'Rough Night' Misses More Than It Hits

Rough Night centers on four women – Jess (Scarlett Johansson), Alice (Jillian Bell), Blair (Zoë Kravitz), and Frankie (Ilana Glazer) – who became a tight-knit group of friends in college.  In the present, Jess is a politician running for office, and is about to get married.  For her bachelorette party, she reunites with her college friends – including Pippa (Kate McKinnon), who became her friend during her semester in Australia – for a wild, fun time in Miami.  But everything goes sideways when the male stripper they hired is accidentally killed.

I watched this movie hoping it’s going to be another unexpectedly fun women-centric comedy romp like Bridesmaids and Bad Moms.  I also found the “female version of The Hangover” vibes it was giving off a bit intriguing.  Unfortunately, it’s not any good at all.

It’s not necessarily criminally unfunny.  There are chuckles and amusement to be had, sure.  And it has some energy, I’ll give it that.  But the jokes miss more than they hit.  Nothing really clever comes out from its “R” premise.  The only thing I found somewhat hilarious was how “wild” the bachelor party for the groom-to-be was, in contrast to the kind of partying the women were having.

Overall, Rough Night is, well, rough.  The story is clumsy and formulaic.  Most importantly, it barely justifies identifying as a comedy.  It’s not repulsively stupid.  But it’s reasonably forgettable.