Vacation Friends: Film Review

Vacation Friends: Disney+ Review

Cast: John Cena, Lil Rel Howery,Meredith Hagner, Yvonne Oriji

Director: Clay Tarver

Vacation Friends is the kind of film that has potential.

This supposedly raucous no-holds barred movie focuses on Howery's uptight Marcus, who's heading off on holiday to Mexico with his girlfriend Nancy (Oriji, given very little to do).

While Marcus has mapped out everything to within an inch of its life, he finds his plans disrupted by the chaotic and easy-going Ron and Kyla (Cena and Hagner). When their free-spirited approach trashes Marcus' hotel room and proposal, Ron and Kyla invite the couple to stay with them - and force them into becoming friends for the week they're on vacation.

However, when Marcus and Nancy go their separate ways from Ron and Kyla, promises to keep in touch fall by the wayside - until they crash back into each other's lives.

There's supposed to be a culture clash comedy in this movie, a riff on the usual approach to the films like this.

However, it's so abysmally executed that every single moment of this movie is populated with lazy jokes, obvious gags signposted a mile off and situations that are just ludicrously unfunny.

From Hagner's annoyingly dumb blonde playing to the lowest stereotypes to Howery's riff on what would normally be the squawking Kevin Hart role, Vacation Friends aims for every single low-hanging fruit - and still somehow manages to miss every single one of them.

Cena manages to unwillingly get rid of any goodwill his comedy turns in the likes of Trainwreck and The Suicide Squad may have garnered, by playing as dumb as can be, while showcasing his abs and propensity for over-acting whenever the scene demands it. (And sometimes when it does not).

Howery, on a roll since Ryan Reynolds' Free Guy, does the best he can with a script that demands less of its actors than it does its audience, but even he can't hold back the tide of vacuous emotion and unbelievable sequences that play out.

There are moments of Vacation Friends which recall elements of Couples Retreat, and while it's great to see a mainly African-American cast at the centre of a comedy like this, the film has no heart in its chest, no fire in its comedy belly, and no desire to make any of its 103 minutes enjoyable or memorable.

Vacation Friends is the kind of film that should live by the motto "What happens on vacation, stays on vacation." Because frankly, it would have been better for all concerned if this holiday outing was forgotten forever.