Rough Night

Comic Review Written and Drawn by David Yoder

Rough Night: Very Bad Friends

Written Review by David Carter

Big broad R-rated comedies aren’t usually what I rush to the theater to see. Not that I don’t enjoy them. Good dick and fart jokes found in late 00’s Judd Apatow or 90’s Kevin Smith movies are just what the doctor ordered sometimes. There are so many of these types of raunchy comedies pumped into theaters that it’s hard to know which ones will be more Superbad and Neighbors and less The Hangover (any of them). That’s what makes movies like Bridesmaids or Trainwreck so exciting when you hear about them because there’s the chance that with a different (namely female) perspective, something unique can be mined from all the debauchery and pratfalls. Rough Night on paper seems like a seems like a knockout. Two of the creative minds behind Broad City (Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs) bringing you a riff on The Big Chill and Very Bad Things, starring three of the funniest people working today (Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer and Kate McKinnon) and two of our best working actresses and action stars (Zoe Kravitz and Scarlett Johansson). Unfortunately even with all the star power and talent behind the scenes the movie never really clicks into anything worth mentioning. There are ideas that sound great on paper but the movie never takes the time to flesh them out.

Rough Night is about struggling politician Jess (Scarlett Johansson sporting a Hillary Clinton haircut) gearing up for a bachelorette party in Miami with her three college friends. Her clingy but good-hearted bestie and maid of honor Alice (Jillian Bell) and old college flames Blair (Zoe Kravitz) and Frankie (Ilana Glazer). There’s also Jess’s new Australian friend and wild card Pipa (the ever scene-stealing Kate McKinnon) thrown into the mix. After pressuring Jess to indulge a little in some heavier drinking and drugs (she’s a female politician after all. A night like this could end her career if even a photo of her just doing shots ends up on Facebook) a stripper is summoned to turn the night up to 11. Things go horribly wrong when an overeager Alice (there’s a running joke about how absurdly horny she is) jumps on the stripper cracking his head wide open. Due to various reasons (the mountains of drugs lying around, Jess’s political career, Frankie’s two strikes, Blair’s child custody troubles) instead of just calling the police the girls are forced to dispose of the body. All the while Jess’s fiance Peter (Paul W. Downs who gives Kate McKinnon a run for her money as MVP) freaks out and makes a beeline for Miami due to reading Jess’s panicked phone call as her breaking off of the wedding. It’s a dark farcical race for all parties to figure how to salvage a night that doesn’t seem like it’s going to get any better.

I mentioned Very Bad Things and The Big Chill up top because the movie is pretty much a mash-up of those films filtered through a millennial lens. While it’s easy to focus on dark nihilistic sex comedy stuff, the parts of the movie where it’s these longtime friends reconnecting at this weird part of their lives are where we as an audience should latch on to these people but the movie only really makes gestures at development and character arcs. Sure we see Blair and Frankie slowy rekindle that spark they had between them in college but it’s mostly just told to us by the other characters. Yeah, there’s tension between Pipa and Alice because Alice feels threatened by Pipa’s presence as Jess’s new BFF, but it barely comes into play outside of some slight verbal jabs. The movie never uses this idea for anything but filler, which would be fine if the movie really nailed the comedy aspect. Unfortunately, most of the jokes don’t land very well. Sometimes screwball stuff is interrupted with “woke” platitudes that you’re never really sure if you should laugh at or nod your head in agreement. I’d say the best parts of the movie involve gender role flipped ideas of the bachelor party being a low-key wine tasting between sensitive and understanding millennial men that spirals into an odyssey of odd dangerous decisions. However, this bit never really rises above “haha isn’t that weird that those 20 something dudes are acting like 50 year old women at a book and wine club” which is a shame because that dynamic is something that could have been a ton of fun to explore and riff on.

But the films biggest flaw is that for how funny and incredible the performers are, the movie’s script never gives them great opportunities to bounce off of each other or really stretch. Kate McKinnon gets some business, but Jillian Bell never get anything outside of some lackluster physical humor and Ilana Glazer barely gets any of the one-liners or acrobatic physical humor she’s known for on Broad City. Zoe Kravitz and her character feel like an afterthought, she’s essentially the straight woman in a movie that already has one. She also gets a bit involving a swinger couple (played by Demi Moore and Ty Burrell) that feels like it should be pay off for Jillian Bell’s characters horniness but was swapped last minute to give Zoe something to do. This might have been one of those rare times where some heavier improv would have been welcome.

It’s sad to say that Rough Night doesn’t really work on any of the levels it strives for which is a shame as more good female-centered comedies are needed and welcome. I hope all parties involved lick their wounds and bring us something better next time.