Not a great film but if you want a film that you can half watch while chatting with friends and getting drunk, this would be the kind of film that might offer enough amusement while not being very deep.
John Cena seems to be making a concerted effort to become a comedic actor and while he’s kind of funny he doesn't have the physical appearance of a comedic actor so there is something odd about him. He clearly tries to use his appearance and history within his comedic performances, such as playing weak in situations where you would expect him to be the “alpha” male. He’s kind of good and is clearly willing to do pretty much anything for a laugh (as this film puts to the testnseveral times) but there tends to be something about his performance that makes him look like he’s trying a little too hard. Maybe he just needs a better script and director.
Does anybody know if he has any top shelf comedies and why it’s so good?
Apart from Cena, William H Macy is quite good. In moments where he could easily overplay the action he manages to make it all seem so genuine and real. Macy being the typical type of deadpan comic actor who looks a bit funny to start with.
As an Australian I could help but notice that this film was obviously shot here. With so many local comedians, soap opera actors and a prominent journalist making appearances + Nathan Jones who has appeared in many big films.
The journalist is Stan Grant who is very poorly lit in many shots. Stan is an indigenous Australian and he has a unique complexion that comes out looking very patchy in many scenes. It seems like the lighting team have set ideas on how to light certain shades of skin and can't recognise when it just ain't working. He looks good in some shots and bloody awful in others.
The Australian connection is also shown in an inexplicable moment when a character enters a room with his hat pinned up on one side (like Crocodile Dundee I guess) and digeridoo music is playing. This is not explained in any way makes no sense even as a joke.
Famous Soap opera actress Debra Larence plays one of the friends mother. She played Pippa on Home and Away for decades. That show has birthed a few big name Hollywood celebrities but seeing her in a different role is unusual but she played it well.
The tech guy is played by comedian Ryan Shelton who was probably quite happy to score such a big (for him) role.
There were a few other Austrailans some I only knew were Aussies by their accents.
If they made a buddy film with Cena and Macy, that could be interesting. They offer the most interest here and the moments when they interact were some of the most enjoyable parts of the film.
Review by wolfkinBlockedParent2024-04-23T03:39:01Z
What a strange film. It's like a mix of The Ringer and Tag with hints of This is 40 and I Love You Man.
For a Farrelly movie it's remarkably tolerable. None of the gross out humor they're known for. That was always the pill you had to swallow with the desert of their laugh out loud comedies. The good ones let you get past it. The bad ones were too gross to fully enjoy. But this is perfectly fine with that respect. There is a character with hair that's far far too long that is gross but not even close to the point where it's distractedly so. There's also a scene in the start where kids step on dog feces and it splatters on their face. For the life of me I'll never understand this prank that I can't call anything but the whitest thing ever. Why on earth would someone's first instinct to seeing a small fire be to stomp on it? That doesn't make any sense and yet I've been watching people do this on TV since I was a child watching 60s sitcoms on Nickelodeon.
Cena's Rock Hard Rod is effective. He's hilarious when he needs to be. His X-Rated songs are all full laugh worthy. He fills out a bloody suit well in Act III. He manages to be that third wheel character without being full on annoying like Bill Murray's Bob in What About Bob? (1991). He's earnest without being cringe. He's a third wheel character you want to root for even if looking at John Cena and seeing a dude who is a loser just doesn't compute.
There's some balls the movie doesn't bother catching. They really flesh out Efron's Dean as a victim of abuse but aside from being a very plausible explanation for his motivations and actions it doesn't really get explored. He never deals with it. He never admits it. It's just a setup with no payoff. Ricky stays on in the movie because of his fear from people he owes money to and (minor spoiler) they never show up. His money issues never become anything. The movie did pay off the inevitable reveal in a way I didn't expect. I assumed that the story would be about how Ricky made the trio better people but while that appears to be the first and easiest idea that movie is better for doing something different. All of this makes the movie fun but it does mean there are parts of the movie that don't resolve.
The movie is also unexpectedly diverse. Honestly if I had remembered this was a Farrelly movie I would have expected a punchline more but they don't come. They don't really do anything. These characters with various "atypicalisms" are just there living their life as part of the movie. Some are important, some aren't. Some speak, some don't. They're just part of the fabric of the narrative. Which is pretty cool and inclusive representation. All in a movie that I have basically no issues recommending which is great.