{"id":17047,"date":"2021-08-26T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=17047"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:14:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:14:11","slug":"review-vacation-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-vacation-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Vacation Friends<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vacation Friends<\/em> is the kind of movie we\u2019re talking about when we say studios aren\u2019t making mid-budget comedies anymore. It belongs to a shrinking class of movies driven by solid comic writing and performances over pyrotechnics and recognizable IP. That\u2019s not to say Clay Tarver\u2019s movie, co-scripted by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, is a particularly great example of that model. While it\u2019s still enjoyable, Vacation Friends <\/em>lacks the character arcs and tight narrative of Daley and Goldstein\u2019s Game Night<\/em> (the current gold standard of sleeper hit mid-budget comedies), falling somewhere around the middle of \u201cfine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) and Emily (Yvonne Orji) arrive at a spa in Mexico, Marcus has elaborate plans to propose. Those plans are complicated somewhat by Ron (John Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner), who unintentionally sabotage the couple\u2019s suite, then invite Marcus and Emily to stay with them for the week. The uptight Marcus is intimidated by Ron and Kyla\u2019s freewheeling, drug-friendly lifestyle (they kick things off with cocaine-rimmed margaritas), but both he and Emily open up and enjoy their company. Things get weird seven months later, when Ron and a very pregnant Kyla show up uninvited to Marcus and Emily\u2019s wedding, with Ron playing defensive wingman to Marcus as he contends with Emily\u2019s disapproving family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It feels a touch unfair to keep comparing Vacation Friends <\/em>to Game Night<\/em>, but in this case, doing so points out structurally what keeps this film from reaching those same satisfying heights. Game Night<\/em> set clear stakes and internal conflicts that Vacation Friends<\/em> keeps relatively generalized. Ron and Kyla live life on the edge, but they aren\u2019t completely unhinged, nor do they come with many surprises. Marcus\u2019 tense relationship with Emily\u2019s family is predicated solely on the fact that her parents and brother are classist jerks, not that both sides have hang-ups they need to get over. Even Marcus\u2019 concern that the foursome\u2019s last night of partying in Mexico resulted in him unintentionally fathering Kyla\u2019s baby mostly gets brushed under the rug. Rather than go all in on one idea, Tarver and the screenwriters jump around to different ones, with muddled results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The central quartet of performances lift matters significantly. Howery and Orji make a believable, solid couple, and Howery\u2019s tightly-wound frustration finds a good foil in Cena\u2019s game, easygoing goofball. Cena and Hagner commit to their characters\u2019 brand of crazy, and one-up each other frequently, leading to some solid one-liners. Unfortunately, the script doesn\u2019t utilize Hagner\u2019s formidable comic talent nearly as much as it should, spending much more time with Cena and Howery and giving the women short shrift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a studio comedy with little else on its mind other than delivering some good laughs doesn\u2019t necessarily require dense critical scrutiny, it\u2019s a little frustrating to see a movie like this phone it in when it\u2019s been proven that doing better is possible. It\u2019s not too hard to see where certain writing improvements or more creative directing choices could have made Vacation Friends<\/em> a surprise success. Unfortunately, it shoots for par, and just barely makes it. \"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Vacation Friends” streams Friday on Hulu<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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