Gli amici delle vacanze 2

I genuinely enjoyed the 2021 movie "Vacation Friends", and when I had the chance to sit down and watch the 2023 sequel "Vacation Friends 2", of course I did so.

However, I have to say that writer and director Clay Tarver delivered a lukewarm sequel here. The script and storyline for "Vacation Friends 2" was generally devoid of the funny and outrageous situations that were in the first movie. And the script felt rather mundane and bland, and I was hardly brought to laughter throughout the course of the 106 minutes that the movie ran for.

The acting performances in "Vacation Friends 2" were fair, and it was nice to see John Cena, Lil Rel Howery, Meredith Hagner and Yvonne Orji return to reprise their characters in the sequel. It was really good to see Steve Buscemi in the movie, though his talent was just not utilized to any great accomplishment in "Vacation Friends 2", which was a shame. And it was certainly also nice to see Carlos Santos on the cast list.

So I found "Vacation Friends 2" to be somewhat of a disappointing viewing experience. And it is hardly a movie that I will be picking up a second time, simply because it was lacking the comedy appeal of the 2021 movie.

My rating of "Vacation Friends 2" lands on a very bland five out of ten stars.

The first Vacation Friends was a surprisingly hilarious fun blast full of actual laugh out loud moments, and I had rated that one an 8/10. So considering it's the same director, writers and cast, I expected it to be pretty close to as good as the first one, but wow what a let down this was.

The story was cliched, predictable, sappy, convoluted nonsense, and it was all over the place. The directing was sub par and underwhelming. And as much as Cena tried his best with the terrible material he had this time around, even he nor the addition of Steve Buscemi couldn't save this mess. Unlike the first film, there were zero actual laugh out loud moments, there were barely any smiles, but mostly eyerolls and cringe at pretty much every funny part being a huge miss and mostly infantile humor. As much as I'm a fan of Cena and Buscemi, I just can't recommend wasting 105 minutes watching this mess just to see them.

Vacation Friends was such a great movie. I laughed until I cried it was so funny. Every character served a purpose and the jokes kept coming non stop and you couldn't help but laugh and get invested in the 4 lead characters.

None of that happens here. Vacation Friends 2 manages to make all 4 lead characters you previously liked very unlikable. Then they add Steve Buscemi who manages to be the worst character in the movie.

There were a few laughs in the film, most of which were in the trailer. They built so long to the ashes joke but since the punchline was in the trailer the whole sequence fell flat for me.

Normally I'd call this type of sequel a cash cow but since it's a direct to Hulu film I can't even call it that. I'm not sure why this was made but it definitely should have stayed unmade.

If you want to laugh with these characters re watch the original and if you want to feel let down and disappointed that's the only way I'd recommend this sequel. I gave it 5-10 cause of my love for the characters from the first movie and the movie itself was average and could have been worse.

The first Vacation Friends was a pleasant surprise. The sequel is a step down but still enjoyable. During the first half, I felt like I was laughing as much as in the original. It didn't feel like it missed a beat. But the second half has less laughs.

And it goes a little too outrageous and crosses the line of believability. This is mainly due to the odd inclusion of action scenes. I know it's not meant to be taken seriously, but it hurts the credibility of the whole movie. It doesn't feel as real, more like a fantasy.

Even with all that, I was still entertained and laughed a good amount. Steve Buscemi and Ronny Chieng are nice additions to the cast. (1 viewing, 8/25/2023)

The first Vacation Friends was a pretty mediocre comedy, but there were a few decent laughs. This sequel really doesn't bring much new to the table and the cast, sans Cena, is just not very funny. Cena is by far the highlight as he is the only one who really displays any real charisma, but he cannot do much to offset this predictable, boring story.

It's standard father-in-law and "win over the tough exec" fare. Everything is quite lazy with a lack of really any creative spark to speak for. Hulu's original movies from 20th Century films are hit or miss to say the least, and this is without a doubt a miss.