Link to the audio version of this post is HERE
In recent weeks, we’ve tackled religion, misogyny, death, systemic racism, and more. Keep it light, right? So this week, I want to discuss ego death and the loss of self. I’m kidding, let’s have a little fun. With the summer months closing in, I’m sure if you’re like me, you’re dreading the extra daylight hours and intense heat that makes even thinking about going outside a dehydrating prospect and actually going outside leaving you feeling like a desiccated corpse. But if you’re normal, then your head will probably fill with ideas of sun and the beach and vacation. We’ve all been on vacation before, I hope, and sometimes you meet people. We’ll talk about our vacation selves when I get to The One I Love, but right now I actually do want to keep it light. So let’s get into the underrated comedy from 2021, Vacation Friends.
Uptight Marcus, played by Lil Rel Howery (Get Out, Free Guy), and his girlfriend Emily, played by Yvonne Orji (The Blackening, Insecure) arrive on holiday in Mexico. Marcus is nervous; he’s planning to propose. He’s set it all up ahead of time: rose petals, champagne, the works. But when they get to their suite, they find that the Presidential Suite above them had a serious hot tub malfunction and flooded their room. While trying to find alternate accommodations, they bump into the cause of the hot tub malfunction. And that cause comes in the form of Ron and Kyla. Ron is played by John Cena (Heads of State, Peacemaker), for whom I have expressed great admiration before. He’s such a great actor in this kind of role, where he gets to play this insanely jacked, scary looking, but ultimately kind, open, empathetic, and slightly goofy guy. He’s the king of this archetype and his charm is a big, big part of the appeal of this movie. I don’t know why he got into acting so late in life. I don’t know what he did before acting, but in doing some research, I was told that I wouldn’t be able to see him. Kyla is played by Meredith Hagner and I continue to think that she is one of the most underrated comic actresses in the industry. She blew me away in Search Party and was great in Bad Monkey and again has this archetype that she plays so well. She’s got this lovable, somewhat ditzy, free-spirited character in the bag. I’m sure she has range, judging by some more of the dramatic parts of Search Party, but when she’s this likable playing to type, I can’t be mad at it. Even when she’s cheating on Andy Samberg in Palm Springs, you just can’t help but like her.
Now these two, Ron and Kyla, couldn’t be more different from Marcus and Emily. In addition to being white, they’re completely free with themselves. Wanderlusters. Travelers. Borderline vagabonds. Absolute free spirits. I’m talking to the point that I cannot, with all of what’s left of my inner child and all my mind combined, even begin to imagine what that feels like. I have never been that free at all; to be completely honest, it’s aspirational. But then again, I’m someone who doesn’t even wear shorts in public, so maybe being that free with myself isn’t in the cards. I’m a lot more like Marcus, buttoned down, planning for every possibility, never leaping before I look (and usually not after looking either, if I’m being completely honest). Emily comes from money, Marcus started and runs his own construction company (which his soon-to-be father-in-law looks down on, more on that later). Marcus is a park ranger who spends his days finding people lost in caves and Kyla works for a doctor who has to change addresses often because the feds keep coming after him. But that’s the beauty of vacation. Sand in your shoes is the ultimate equalizer. Despite initial (and understandable) apprehension, the four become fast friends, with Marcus and Emily trying their best to keep up; accidentally doing cocaine, getting obliterated at bar after bar, being chased by some very angry locals. You know, normal vacation stuff that any of us do on any of our holiday trips. Unrelated, I’m told they still have my photo up at Magic Kingdom. But I say don’t make drinks look that fun if you don’t want 8-year-olds to drink them and then yell “I’m king of the world” on the Jungle Cruise.
From there, the vacation gets out of hand in the absolute best of ways. They become not only inseparable, but also a montage filled with great visual comedy. But all vacations must come to an end, and Marcus and Emily bury their Island Niles versions of themselves in the sand to return to normal life. But Ron and Kyla do the dreaded thing of wanting to keep in touch. Time passes and the vacation fades to memory, as they all do, and with a wedding on the horizon, they have more things to think about than a magical week in Mexico. That is what the real world is really great at, isn’t it? Sucking the magic out of life. Until Ron and Kyla show up, causing all sorts of chaos.
I’ve watched Vacation Friends four or five times now and each time there’s a level of unease. First of all, comedies are never as funny the second time around. Comedy is an equation that relies on a subversion of expectations, so if you know the punchline, it’s hard to be surprised by it. I also worry that, like I did with Palm Springs, it’s a movie that connected with me so much because it was a pandemic watch originally. Who wouldn’t want to go to Mexico to party with John Cena and Meredith Hagner instead of sitting at home worrying about your friends and family? But those worries were again unfounded and with each rewatch, I’m surprised at just how funny it remains to be. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the normal, pretentious comedy that I usually go for. It’s crude at times, it’s stupid at times, it flirts with crossing a line here and there (which, thankfully, it never really does), but the delivery is so top notch, it sells the rapid fire jokes that keep coming at you. The comic timing here is excellent. No one misses a trick, no one delivers a punchline poorly, not even put upon Maurillio, who works the front desk at the hotel. If all you’re looking for is a good time and great laughs, Vacation Friends and the cleverly named sequel, Vacation Friends 2 deliver that. You can stop here if you want and go watch it and you’ll have a great time. But you know me. I’ve got to keep going.
Just like a vacation, a movie like this can be a real escape from everything going on. Five minutes on Twitter or watching the news and I’m more than ready to deal with the Babadook instead. The thing that follows you in It Follows is a breeze compared to the real world right now. So being able to jump into a comedy is really a wonderful feeling. But you know that’s not enough for me and luckily Vacation Friends isn’t just stupid comedy. Oh, there’s plenty of that as well, but there’s also a lot of heart to this. Ron and Kyla may be wacky, cocaine-smuggling wildcards, but they only ever approach people with kindness. They don’t judge, but they are judged a lot. And so are Marcus and Emily. Like I said, Emily’s father looks down on Marcus for being a “just a construction worker”, as if that were something to be ashamed of in the first place, and is incredibly harsh on everything he does. Put simply, he hates Marcus. Never gave him a chance. Just like the way Marcus and Emily judged Ron and Kyla initially. So it’s not like this movie is all just empty calories, there is some substance to it. Learning not to judge others until you get to know them, approaching people with kindness, treating people with dignity. For a crude, silly comedy that has a lot of sex and drugs, it’s a shockingly wholesome movie. Now, I wouldn’t pull it up on a family holiday and sit grandma and the kids in front of it; it is R-rated, after all. It doesn’t smack you in the face with a message either; it doesn’t take this turn where it drops comedy for melodrama, rather it’s in stride. The movie messages by example; the kind and empathetic people who take the time to bond with each other and get to know each other are the clear protagonists. The ones who judge others by what they have or how cultured they seem to be are the clear antagonists. Sure, there’s a little bit of debauchery along the way, but I say again, Mr. Disney, don’t put a castle in your park if you don’t want an 8-year-old to challenge the king to single combat for the crown. Vacation Friends is kind of a feel good movie. And not in that sappy, saccharine kind of way; it’s not a movie that takes aim at tugging on your heartrstings, but I nonetheless found myself in a better, more hopeful mood after watching it. And it lasted all the way until the next time I opened up Twitter. I really need to stop doing that to myself.
Vacation Friends is a really, really fun comedy that is full of laughs, likable characters, and John Cena’s rippling, sinewy charisma that carries it through most of its faults, which are minor. This isn’t a life-changing comedy by any means, but I think it’s far better than its 59% RT score would suggest. It’s not ambitious, it’s not trying to change anything or do anything groundbreaking. But it’s just such a genuinely pleasant film about a bunch of people who seem so different and in the end just aren’t. Or at the very least, their differences don’t outweigh the things about them that bring them together. The sequel is even worth a look too. I’ve only seen it once and I remember it being quite a drop in quality from this one; but sequels are hard and comedy sequels are even harder. It still has its moments, though far more over the top with needlessly higher stakes, but I had so much affection for these characters that I was mainly happy just to be spending time with them again. If you’re looking for a good comedy that delivers on laughs this weekend, you could do worse than firing up Vacation Friends and spending 1 hour and 43 minutes just laughing, smiling, chuckling, and chortling. Vacation Friends streams on Hulu.
