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 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.

Bachelorette parties, a sacred ritual to help a young woman transition from single life into the world of marriage. Of course, like most things, modern traditions have adulterated with new traditions and rituals that leads for a rather "exciting" night. So why not make another movie about it. Tonight, my friend and I hit the theater to cover the latest comedy to "grace" the big screen entitled Rough Night! What does this obviously titled film have in store for us? As always, please read on to find out and help determine whether or not it is worth your money to hit the theater.

So what do you get? For once the trailers were pretty spot on with their portrayal of this movie. Rough night is a very raunchy, simplistic, and over the top comedy that has little sustenance outside of the attempt at humor. It's ridiculousness at times is clever, but these moments are few and far between, buried under the comedy rubble that fills this movie. Aggressive innuendos come rushing out of the woodwork, many delivered in the overdramatic manner that somehow seems to be popular and entertaining to many. The all-star cast assembled to for this film are okay, dropping their dynamic acting range for superficial roles filled with cursing and satire. Lazy writing also doesn't help sell the comedy factor, primary thanks to the consistent cursing, shouting of the male genitalia, overzealous drug use, and cringe worthy catchphrases. Kate Mickinnon is able to salvage some parts of the film with her usual tricks, working the Australian accent with her pizazz and spot-on timing.

Story wise, nothing special here. Rough Night's plot is about 80% revealed in the trailers and there is little surprise left for you in the audience. Some of the more adult moments will be the eye widening magic you are seeking, but again these are often awkward uncomfortable, or unnecessary. Still the movie's tale had some surprising character development and a nice twist thrown into the mix to help keep things dynamic. The morals hit close to home on some level, but again are robbed by another bout of stupidity. I know, you aren't there for the character developments and rugged plot, but other comedies have learned to balance things and that is where this movie fails.

In the end though here are my likes and dislikes:

LIKES: • Kate McKinnon • Good, upbeat soundtrack • Short Run Time • More dynamic storyline

DISLIKES: • Incredibly stupid • Excessive cursing • Aggressive humor • Trailers Ruined most of the movie • Inappropriate at many times • Shallow story • Annoying characters • Dropped plots • Overacting • Limited target audience

THE VERDICT:

It's nice to see a movie fit the expectations set by the advertising, but it's sad that this is a form of entertainment. Rough night fails to find balance and resorts to cheap parlor tricks known as adult humor. Sure there are clever components (primarily thanks to the boyfriend and Kate), but even they can't save the movie from the monotonous laziness that is to come. kWhy must it be overacted? I don't know, but nevertheless this movie failed on many accounts. Recommended audience members include bachelorettes, girls nights out, or fans of one of the cast. For the rest though, skip this movie until it darkens the library of Netflix.

My scores are:

Comedy: 5.5 Movie Overall: 3.0

I watched this without looking at any reviews and actually really enjoyed it. It wasn't perfect but was still fun and entertaining and I did actually laugh out loud a good few times and felt good after watching it! Then I went on here to check out the reviews out of curiosity and they were terrible which would have made me not watch it! But I just wanted to say I did actually like it as a good fun girly movie!

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.