Rough Night

The wedding-party subgenre of comedy is an interesting one that has only really taken off within the last decade. Since Todd Phillips’ screwball comedy of a stag party gone wrong in The Hangover, a whole string of bachelor and bachelorette movies have blossomed. Whilst the idea of men and women behaving badly is nothing new, the ugly or ‘sinful’ side of humanity has definitely been swam in with relish over the past few years and director Lucia Aniello has come out with a classic in Rough Night. 

Ambitious senator candidate, Jess (Scarlett Johansson), puts her campaign and hectic work schedule on hold when her college bestie, Alice (Jillian Bell) plans her bachelorette party in Miami. The night begins fun and harmless enough as the girls drink, dance, and innocently party. But things take a downward turn when they accidentally kill the hired stripper. Staying in a glass house with erotic and nosy neighbours able to look in, the girls struggle to deal with the situation as calmly as they can, but over the course of the night fights happen, truths come out, and their friendships are put under serious strain. 

To begin things on a gender-political opinion, this movie did what Wonder Woman should have done. It’s both written and directed by a woman and stars a range of female characters, all of whom are actually given different stories, histories, and arcs as well as equal quantities of screen time. Plus, there are no real gender stereotypes coming to tarnish things. Whilst it’s easy to see similarities between these characters and others of the same genre, there are no eye-rolling clichés to ruin the day, which is just really nice. 

The central story is one of friendship and the shifts in friendship dynamics that come with age. The group is sort of split into two separate stories: one with friction taking place between the forward-moving Jess and Alice who is obsessed with recreating the past, and the other exploring a different and severely shifted relationship between Frankie (Ilana Glazer) and Blair (Zoe Kravitz). 

Trials and tribulations are constant and what’s nicest about the writing is that even though the events of the movie are a little exaggerated for comic relief and sparking emotional turmoil, the way the women deal with everything is completely natural and a beautiful example of the way women work within relationships. There is a lot of breathing, talking, and being quiet to let the steam evaporate and this brings a great level of realism to an otherwise extreme setting. 

Whilst the central conflict is kind of crazy as per the structures of screwball comedy, there are some comedy tropes as well as gender roles that are completely turned on their ears, the groom’s bachelor party for example, that bring further and fresher laughs to the film. The performances are all perfectly balanced and the cast works really well together, bouncing off each other wonderfully to provide a genuine and zesty group of friends. 

As an Aussie, I couldn’t quite get behind Kate McKinnon’s ‘Australian’ accent, and there are one or two moments where you can easily predict what’s coming next, but that’s a small niggle in an otherwise sparkling opinion of this movie. 

These types of screwball comedies aren’t for everyone, but for those who did not give up on the genre after A Few Best Men or Bride Wars, I would definitely recommend Rough Night. 

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jillian Bell, Kate McKinnon, Zoe Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, Paul W. Downs, Ryan Cooper, Eric Andre, Ty Burrell, and Demi Moore 

Year: 2017 

Rating: MA