Rough Night

A wild weekend for the girls turns disastrous for both them and the viewer. Will Miami ever be the same again?

Girls just wanna.... : Zoë Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon and Jillian Bell get silly

Like a Saturday Night Live sketch that overstays its welcome, Rough Night features Scarlett Johansson as its celebrity guest in a girls gone wild scenario. Throw The Hangover, Bridesmaids and Weekend at Bernie's into the blender and this is the instantly forgettable studio comedy that results. The film is actually quite offensive at times, sending out the message that women are only funny when making stupid decisions and penis jokes. As the film becomes increasingly ridiculous and self-aware, all sense of reality is left behind. The often humourless material leaves little for the women to do, with the occasional laugh suffocated by forced, lowbrow gags that simply don't work. Hope for an empowering all-female comedy is ruined by the main plot device, which revolves around the heaviest girl jumping onto a male stripper and killing him. The female director and co-writer Lucia Aniello wastes an opportunity and plunges into mediocrity by insisting that she's just one of the boys. Ironically, the best laughs are generated by the 'wild' bachelor party of Johansson's onscreen fiancé.

CHAD KENNERK

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, Zoë Kravitz, Paul W. Downs, Ty Burrell, Demi Moore, Bo Burnham.

Dir Lucia Aniello, Pro Matt Tolmach, Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Dave Becky, Screenplay Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs, Ph Sean Porter, Pro Des Ryan Heck, Ed Craig Alpert, Music Dominic Lewis, Costumes Leah Katznelson.

Paulilu Productions/Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE)-Sony Pictures.
101 mins. USA. 2017. Rel: 25 August 2017. Cert. 15.