Only a few weeks after the similarly themed Girls Night, we have Rough Night. Once again there are four female friends from college – who have mostly lost touch – getting together for a wild weekend. For her bachelorette party, bride-to-be Jess (Scarlett Johansson) is joined by Alice (Jillian Bell), Blair (Zoe Kravitz), and Frankie (Ilana Glazer). Once in Miami they are met by Jess’ friend from an Australian trip, Pippa (Kate McKinnon). They hire a stripper to come to their beach house but he is accidentally killed. As this is a film, instead of calling the police they decide to dispose of the body. Things don’t go to plan, and the evening unravels alarmingly.
This has received far worse critical reception and box office returns than Girls Night, and though I wasn’t the biggest fan of that film, I have to agree that it does pale in comparison. The biggest problem is that most of the characters are not very likeable, and there seems little chemistry between them to make the idea of them being old friends believable. Pippa is probably the least annoying, but that may be because we find out very little about her!
The second problem is that there are just not enough laughs in Lucia Aniello’s and Paul Downs’ script. When they hit the mark – a Rob Lowe joke springs to mind – it shows there is talent there, but the gag quotient is just not high enough. They also deliver a funny joke about a champagne cork popping causing a security incident at an airport, but then feel the need to painfully explain it.
Aniello is more impressive as a director, giving the film a certain energy that keeps it going in the lulls between the funny moments. Also, a sub-plot involving Jess’s fiance’s subdued bachelor party, and his energy drink fuelled dash to Miami, made me wish we had seen more of him.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10