Rough Night

This review may contain spoilers!

Well they certainly got the 'rough' part right, what a piece of work that was. I would give Rough Night a 3/10.

This film was actually quite clever in how it flipped the stereotypes within a comedy film; we saw the women get up to some crazy and absolutely ridiculous antics while the men were more in touch and driven by their emotions. It was quite fun and an unexpected take on what has become a very stale genre. The soundtrack for the feature really has some great comedic timing, probably the best part was Kate McKinnon singing "We Killed A Man" during the credits.

Scarlett Johansson, who played Jess, made for a fairly good lead; what she lacked in comedic experience she made up for in bringing a ton of emotional range and impact to scenes. Jillian Bell, who played Alice, was quite the opposite from Johansson in regards to her ability as a comedic performer; however in saying that Bell provided a great deal of insight into her role in the card scene. Kate McKinnon, who played Pippa, is quite an oddball role that brings out some of the funnier moments throughout the film; her entire character revolving around Australian mannerisms is a very effective gag.

However the best performance came from Paul W. Downs, Patrick Carlyle, Eric Andre, Bo Burnham and Hasan Minhaj, who played Peter, Patrick, Jake, Tobey and Joe respectively. These guys all really seemed to have a lot of fun playing characters who were more emotionally centred; these were not the guys who did a ton of drugs and then get involved in some ridiculous story, rather these guys were entirely driven by validating the romance subplot. I liked the very pointed jokes around wine tasting and journeying across the country to declare love for another, it was quite intentionally over the top and brought forth some of the better scenes of the film. Downs in particular deserves high praise for the very charismatic role he played, the audience is in love with him in no time at all.

This film might shake up the stereotypes of a comedy film but it doesn't manage to shake what has been plaguing most American comedy films in recent years. The humour is really bad, mostly guided by excessive sexual or drug-related humour that's 'tongue in cheek' just for the shock value. Beyond this the story itself really isn't much to watch; the backstories for the characters have very little impact later on and what is set up throughout the feature often doesn't come to a satisfying ending. The idea of a bacholerette party gone awry and hilarity then ensues feels pretty stale, nothing about the concept screams 'new'. Probably the big issue with this film was when the 'stripper' gets killed and you see the pool of blood; not only does this remove the comedic tone from the film but it makes the central characters extremely hard to like after this. The cinematography is quite simple which isn't particularly surprising for a comedy film; over the duration of the feature the sets feel woefully tiny and claustrophobic. The editing was another major let down, the cutting was slow and the pacing of the film followed suit.

Zoe Kravitz, who played Blair, is quite a stone cold character and the hardest to like of the main cast; Kravitz didn't really seem to have much personality in the film and certainly lacked chemistry with Glazer. Ilana Glazer, who played Frankie, was quite a tough role who played the tongue in cheek element a little too hard; Glazer never grabbed the attention of the scenes she was in and she didn't seem particularly committed to the film itself. Ty Burrell and Demi Moore, who played Pietro and Lea respectively, were just there to be creepy and inevitably to make a ton of sex jokes; it's a shame because these two are very big talents but their roles in this film don't reflect that at all. Enrique Murciano and Dean Winters, who played Detective Ruiz and Detective Frazier respectively, are very rushed and forgettable antagonists; Murciano and Winters are pushed into the final act quite suddenly as a not so transparent way to wrap up some glaring plot holes. Colton Haynes, who played Real Scotty, just isn't suited to the comedy genre at all; he's really there because he physically matches the stripper look they're going for but he brings little else to this film. Karan Soni, who played Raviv, is really only at the start to deliver exceptionally forgettable exposition; later in the film when Soni appears again he lays the comedy on thick in a pretty crinegeworthy manner.