Crazy Night - Festa col morto

Let's be honest here...Rough Night is probably the most unoriginal idea to hit theaters this summer. It has the storyline of Peter Berg's 1998 film Very Bad Things with a Weekend at Bernie's twist. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon and Zoe Kravitz, the film's star power seems to have no shortage but the film's screenplay doesn't know what it wants to be. There are far too few thrills to classify it a thriller and, as far comedy is concerned, it is severely lacking. So we're given this cookie-cutter film that does its job (more or less).

The film opens Hangover style, it introduces us to the gang of girls as they make their way to the bachelorette weekend to end all bachelorette weekends. Scarlett Johasson plays the bride to be while her bridesmaids are either overly sexual or prudes. There is not much of an in-between. No character felt real. They all felt like they were written specific to this event and that really didn't bode well with me. In a situational comedy like this, it helps to have a character we can relate to. This film really doesn't have a relateable character, just mere pawns in the film's game. The story itself moves pretty well through it's self proclaimed rough night but doesn't really latch on to you as a viewer. You're pretty much there to watch the ride...nothing else.

The cast here is probably the best part of the film. Between the gravitas Johansson brings to the screen and the intrigue of Zoe Kravitz and the off the wall banter from Kate McKinnon, it would be a lie if I said they weren't at least fun to watch. The problem the film has is its dialog. If the film's goal wasn't to promote feminism and a pro-female image, I'd say it is passable. But the film portrays women either as sex-crazed drunkards or uptight prudes and coming off of Wonder Woman, this film seems like a slap in the face. Maybe it is poor timing or maybe it is true, only time will tell.

Overall, the film isn't horrible. It features good performances from Kate McKinnon and Scarlett Johansson and makes the best of its boderline terrible script. It sustains its 101 minute runtime and fills them with countless penis jokes (Jillian Bell relies on them annoyingly too much) and features some decent moments of situational comedy that could have landed way better but they still land nonetheless. Either way, it is a passable film but not one that I'd recommend spending money to see in the theater.

This was pretty stupid wasn't as good as the hangover & to me it wasn't all that good...if you seen one you seen them all...super impractical & if you seen 1 you seen them all. Can't believe Scarlett J. Starred in this crap lol There were so many parts that was just super idiotic & not funny....only a couple of parts that were a little funny...super cheesy in general...if there is nothing else to watch sure but I would hate to know I spent money to watch it

This review Rough Night is spoiler free

*** (3/5)

IN 2011 THE box-office smashing Oscar nominated adult comedy Bridesmaids cemented down a shiny new pathway for some seriously funny ladies to take over comedy, and for years after women have proved that they too can hit all the right marks with hilarious dialogue, a crude attitude and naughty behaviour which normally make a hit in male lead comedies.

In writer-director Lucia Aniello's directorial debut Rough Night, seriously funny ladies lead a slew of penis jokes, nasty consequences, crude behaviour and a misjudged killing of a male stripper. When a group of friends reunite after ten years for a bachelorette party in Miami. There's Scarlett Johansson's Jess who is the bride to be, then there's Alice (Bell) she's the rudest of the group, next is Blair (Kravitz) who just joins in for the ride, fourth is Frankie (Glazer) who is the dopest of the group and finally there's Kate McKinnon's Pippa who's Jess' new friend from Australia. Its big name cast who give the film it's nails from their hilarious quips for which McKinnon is the standout through their party attitude to their consequences and it's here when the film shines. The group hire a male stripper, which bodes well for them for a while but when the worst happens they're brought closer together when it matters most.

It's rude, beyond the constant penis jokes rude; it's rude in its shock tactics too these aren't just the quick and cheap shocks that lead other comedies, here they're carefully planned which gives this a polish, there's a penis gift bag, a BDSM room and there's a hilarious section with a jet ski. It's relentlessly funny in these moments which thrive thanks to Aniello's and Paul W. Downs' top notch screenplay. Sadly it's a typically flawed venture for these women, as it suffers in its characterization there are only a few lines of story between them, though each of them have problems, Jess is struggling to make senate, Blair is in a custody battle, then there's Alice who always feels betrayed.

Rough Night isn't always funny either as there are a few jokes or shock tactics that fail to go beyond the planning. In addition it falls under a repetition strike too as some of the more shocking gimmicks play déjà vu particularly a body cover up sequence. However, despite this sudden drop this is still a still a seriously funny adult comedy which has carefully planned consequences and a funny big name cast.

VERDICT: A seriously funny comedy led by some hilarious ladies who handle self-consciously naughty set-pieces with a flawed yet polished flare.

Jess Thayer (Scarlett Johansson), Alice (Jillian Bell), Blair (Zoë Kravitz), and Frankie (Ilana Glazer) are best friends since college. They are going on a bachelorette vacation in Miami. Jess is getting married and running for state senate. They are joined by Jess's Australian friend Pippa (Kate McKinnon) whom the other girls have never met. Jess reluctantly does cocaine with her girls and it only goes downhill after the dead male stripper.

It's a relatively bland comedy until the dead stripper. Then it becomes tonally challenged. It's not dark enough. It's definitely not funny enough. Every passable joke is outnumbered by ones that go flat. The guys are duds and Peter doesn't need this much screen time. The girls should do better than this. There are some funny bits but not everyone is playing at max level.

I love TV show Broad City and was looking forward to this because two of the creatives behind that show paired up to give us Rough Night. The generic title (a switch from Move that Body which was much more suitable) should have warned me. Rough Night is forgettable and not really that funny.

The movie starts out in 2006 where a group of 4 friends get drunk at Halloween, win a beer pong competition and vow to stay friends forever. Fast forward 10 years and the group is reuniting for Jess's (Scarlett Johansson, bland, bland, bland, comedy is NOT her forte) bachelorette weekend at a fancy house in Miami. They party, snort coke, are joined with Jess's Australian friend Pippa (Kate McKinnon in a role that MUST have been written for Rebel Wilson. Surely?). Her friends decide to get Jess a stripper and here is when things go wrong: high on coke they accidentally end up killing the stripper and things quickly spiral out of control as they first try to do the responsible thing of calling the police and then move on to hiding the body.

There was minor protests before the film being released about the movie making a punchline of killing sex workers but the film could have overcome this and he gruesome premise if not for a few things. First of all the women lack friendship chemistry. I don't believe any of these women were ever friends even if a big part of it is that they are supposed to have drifted apart. Second the casting is all awful. Scarlett is not a comedy actress and neither is Zoe Kravitz and it shows. Without being backed up by her hilariously crafted Broad City alter ego Ilana Glazer comes across as simply annoying. Kate McKinnon and Jillian Bell are probably the best with their characters but neither one is given much to do. McKinnon just leans hard into her accent and Bell is saddled with a "loser desperate friend who can't take a hint". The third thing is that the movie never quite finds it's tone. It struggles between "woke" dialogue for characters who are actually just mean and instead of simply leaning into the fact that these women are awful and allowing them to get even more absurdly awful it's way too protective of the characters and keeps trying to redeem them by making them "nice" people. It's both incredibly boring and keeps the movie from really flying.

Still, Rough Night isn't a total write off. There are enough funny lines and a subplot (involving Jess's fiancé who the movie allows to get into REALLY ridiculous shenanigans) to be watchable. Just wish that the script would have let the ladies turn loose too.