3459. Vacation Friends (2021)

Starring: Lil Rel Howery, John Cena, Yvonne Orji

Director: Clay Tarver

Running Time: 103 mins

Vacation Friends is an American film about a sensible couple who, while on holiday celebrating their engagement, meet a free-loving, wild couple, who later turn up at their wedding uninvited.

Unashamedly dumb at every moment, Vacation Friends is a film that knows how to have fun, and never to take itself too seriously. While it’s by no means the funniest comedy ever made, and is never quite out-there enough to top the manic likes of Old School, this is an effortlessly entertaining watch from start to finish.

There’s a lot to like about Vacation Friends, but the thing that really makes it work is the performances, which are fantastic across the board, particularly from the leads.

Following the central quartet of Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji and John Cena and Meredith Hagner, Vacation Friends really hits the mark when it comes to delivering likably crazy leads from start to finish, never irritatingly idiotic nor stupidly idiotic, just a heap of fun throughout.

Howery and Cena in particular are a delight to watch, and their oddball friendship is the highlight of an equally oddball kind of comedy, which seems to sit back and let the mania happen, without a care in the world.

And that’s exactly why Vacation Friends is such a charmingly entertaining watch. Admittedly, it’s not a film that will have you in stitches at every moment, and its final act is certainly a lot less manic than the opening stages, but this movie never takes itself in the slightest bit seriously, always just trying to have a bit of fun.

If you don’t like this brand of late night comedy then I can imagine Vacation Friends would be one to get on your nerves, but if you’re looking for something purely moronic that’s only there to entertain, then this is the movie to watch for a great laugh. So, that’s why I’m giving Vacation Friends a 7.5 overall.