Vacation Friends

"Kyla and I always say if we find ourselves with too much money, we haven't been spending it fast enough."

Both males leads in this film have had well-received films released this summer- Lil Rel Howery in Free Guy and Jon Cena in The Suicide Squad, both are which are funnier and better films than this one. That said, this is a perfectly serviceable dumb comedy to watch on an evening when you don't want to engage your brain too much. 

The premise is that straight-laced couple Marcus (Howery) and Emily (Yvonne Orji) head for a holiday in Mexico where Marcus intends to propose. When things go wrong and a hotel employee accidentally reveals the plan Marcus ends up proposing there and then and the successful proposal is witnessed by Ron (Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner) who invite them to share the presidential suite for the week. Ron and Kyle are wild and drag Marcus and Emily into a drug-addled week of antics. When Marcus and Emily leave they realise they had a good time but expect never to see Ron and Kyla again, only for the wild couple to turn up on their wedding day, much to their horror. 

The earlier parts of the film are by far the best when the four are on holiday. There is something really freeing about seeing straight-laced people go wild thanks to the influence of some utter lunatics and this section is genuinely a lot of fun. Once we see the Ron and Kyla move in on the couple's real life it's actually quite uncomfortable and less amusing. It doesn't help that the plot of the film does absolutely nothing to surprise you in any way and you can predict every beat without even having to think of it. 

The film does just about work though. The laughs are a mixed bag but there are some funny ones- I was most amused by Cena's character asking if spectators can get involved in a wrestling match only to send Howery's character up to wrestle which was a nice in-joke. It's a shame that this does what so many comedies made for adults do and that it shove it full of drugs, swearing and sex references as if that makes it grown-up even though it always feels these elements come from a teenager who can't believe his luck that he's able to write these things.

The thing that saves the film from being utterly terrible is the cast, all four of whom are great and have a good chemistry together. The highlight is undoubtedly John Cena who has proved with this alongside The Suicide Squad that he is a fantastic comedy performer with proper charisma.

Funny at times and on the whole it's heart is in the right place and the cast make the ropey script ten times better than it otherwise would be. It's not as terrible as other film's of it's ilk and as something to casual to watch on a Friday or Saturday night with a few drinks it works quite well.