MOVIE OF THE WEEK #2 (6/16/17): ROUGH NIGHT
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| "The untold story of Destiny's stepchildren is a tragic one, indeed ..." Alice (Jillian Bell, second from left in blue dress) takes center stage while her best friends Jess (Scarlett Johansson), Blair (Zoë Kravitz) and Frankie (Ilana Glazer) strut their stuff in a scene from ROUGH NIGHT. Credit: Macall Polay © 2016 CTMG Inc. All rights reserved. |
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Scarlett Johansson, Jillian Bell, Zoë Kravitz, Illena Glazer, Paul W. Downs, Ryan Cooper, Dean Winters, Enrique Muriano, Colton Haynes, Bo Burnham, Demi Moore and Ty Burrell
WRITER(S): Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs
DIRECTOR(S): Lucia Aniello
WEB SITE: http://www.roughnightmovie.com/site/
HERE'S THE STORY: Jess (Scarlett Johansson), Alice (Jillian Bell), Frankie (Ilana Glaser) and Blair (Zoë Kravitz) were the best of friends in college. But now, they're grown up and dealing with their own problems which is why Jess' upcoming marriage to Peter (Paul W. Downs) are a perfect opportunity for the four of them to reunite and blow off some steam down in Miami. After all, Frankie is an unemployed activist, Blair is going through a rough patch of her own and Alice is, well Alice seems to enjoy her job as an elementary school teacher.
So, once the foursome meets up Jess' other best friend, peppy Australian Pippa (played with Kate McKinnon with the right amount of authenticity and audacity), the group looks to have the makings of a perfect weekend.
Then the stripper (Ryan Cooper) Blair hires shows up ... and there's an incident. (If you watch the trailer, you'll know what it is.) What follows is more than enough to live up to the movie's title – and the new champion of the craziest comedy of 2017 thus far.
HERE'S THE STORY: Jess (Scarlett Johansson), Alice (Jillian Bell), Frankie (Ilana Glaser) and Blair (Zoë Kravitz) were the best of friends in college. But now, they're grown up and dealing with their own problems which is why Jess' upcoming marriage to Peter (Paul W. Downs) are a perfect opportunity for the four of them to reunite and blow off some steam down in Miami. After all, Frankie is an unemployed activist, Blair is going through a rough patch of her own and Alice is, well Alice seems to enjoy her job as an elementary school teacher.
So, once the foursome meets up Jess' other best friend, peppy Australian Pippa (played with Kate McKinnon with the right amount of authenticity and audacity), the group looks to have the makings of a perfect weekend.
Then the stripper (Ryan Cooper) Blair hires shows up ... and there's an incident. (If you watch the trailer, you'll know what it is.) What follows is more than enough to live up to the movie's title – and the new champion of the craziest comedy of 2017 thus far.
WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST? Anyone who liked the movie Bridesmaids; fans of Broad City; Kate McKinnon fans
WHO WON'T (OR SHOULDN'T) LIKE THIS MOVIE? People who will be uncomfortable with the lesbian subject matter; those who hate watching women behave badly;
SO, IS IT GOOD, BAD OR ABSOLUTELY AWFUL? Women can be and are funny. If you are still having that dumb debate in your head and/or stuck on all the controversy with Kathy Griffin or Amy Schumer, hopefully you will get your mind right and stop having that idiotic notion run through your head.
And if that doesn't do, how about this – Rough Night is the funniest female ensemble cast movie since Bridesmaids (if not more so) and possibly the best comedy (thus far) of 2017.
Rough Night hits all the beats one needs to hit in modern comedy: the characters are not one-dimensional, they play the wacky moments as if they were serious moments and play off each other perfectly. Likewise, the jokes are sharp, exploits each characters' foibles expertly and the inherent silliness forces you to become vested in the story and its outcome.
The thing that separates the film from the pack, however, is the clever nature of the writing combined with the snappy, fully committed timing of the cast. Throw in the slight role reversal shown by Downs (who co-wrote the script with director Lucia Aniello) and his male counterparts – to say more would put a damper on watching the performance – and the film is as sharp a comedy to release this year. McKinnon, in keeping up with her usual track record, steals the show (this time by playing things more straight – no pun intended – than usual) while Bell shows she can be less in-your-face with a character that is more human than her recent work. Johannson might be the biggest winner, however, for the woman who has convincingly played both strong, sexy super heroes and enigmas proves her comedic chops as a normal, stressed out person just trying to live her life.
If you and your friends are looking for a good way to enjoy living your lives together, seeing Rough Night is a great way to guarantee avoiding one.
SO, IS IT GOOD, BAD OR ABSOLUTELY AWFUL? Women can be and are funny. If you are still having that dumb debate in your head and/or stuck on all the controversy with Kathy Griffin or Amy Schumer, hopefully you will get your mind right and stop having that idiotic notion run through your head.
And if that doesn't do, how about this – Rough Night is the funniest female ensemble cast movie since Bridesmaids (if not more so) and possibly the best comedy (thus far) of 2017.
Rough Night hits all the beats one needs to hit in modern comedy: the characters are not one-dimensional, they play the wacky moments as if they were serious moments and play off each other perfectly. Likewise, the jokes are sharp, exploits each characters' foibles expertly and the inherent silliness forces you to become vested in the story and its outcome.
The thing that separates the film from the pack, however, is the clever nature of the writing combined with the snappy, fully committed timing of the cast. Throw in the slight role reversal shown by Downs (who co-wrote the script with director Lucia Aniello) and his male counterparts – to say more would put a damper on watching the performance – and the film is as sharp a comedy to release this year. McKinnon, in keeping up with her usual track record, steals the show (this time by playing things more straight – no pun intended – than usual) while Bell shows she can be less in-your-face with a character that is more human than her recent work. Johannson might be the biggest winner, however, for the woman who has convincingly played both strong, sexy super heroes and enigmas proves her comedic chops as a normal, stressed out person just trying to live her life.
If you and your friends are looking for a good way to enjoy living your lives together, seeing Rough Night is a great way to guarantee avoiding one.
OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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