Jess (Johansson), a politician running for State, is to be married to Peter (Downs) but not before she is enlisted into the obligatory bachelorette weekend with her old college friends of ten years, but one she isn’t thrilled about attending. Organised by needy friend Alice (Bell) with ex-lovers Frankie (Glazer) and Blair (Kravitz) in tow, they are joined in Miami by Pippa, Jess’ friend from her semester in Australia – an arrival that irks Alice. Settling in for some cocaine action and shots galore, the girls decide a stripper is in order, which turns out to be a bad decision. Back home, Peter is having a wild bachelor party – a wine and soft cheese tasting party with his aloof friends. High contrast.

 

Scarlett Johansson, free of her superhero and sci-fi shackles, leads a stellar cast of female talent on the weekend-gone-wrong and is clearly enjoying having the freedom to wisecrack and stretch her comedic chops. Likewise, the rest of the cast all interact well and have a fittingly awkward relationship for old college friends who see each other every few years. They are all given personal motivations and issues, and each has a chance in the spotlight during the movie. Kate McKinnon provides the central humour with her oddjob brand of comedy and an intentionally awful Australian accent. The clear message this movie shouts about is the importance of friendship, but not before there’s an emotional barnstormer of an argument towards the end.

 

A good tip comes from the movie - if you've ordered pizza before killing someone, make sure you still take the order and demolish the pizza before coming up with a plan.

 

There’s nothing genre-busting to be found here, but there is a lot of fun moments throughout - from the body on the beach, the sleazy hamminess of the neighbours (with great cameos from Demi Moore and Ty Burrell) to Peter’s mad dash to Miami in an adult diaper – the movie delivers the laughs and there’s some comic interactions between the characters all through the proceedings. It is formulaic to a degree, but the switch ups during the movie keep things moving and stop the rot setting in. The ending is very neatly tied up, as is to be expected, and you won’t leave the movie having seen any real surprises.

 

That said, the majority of Rough Night delivered the laughs and was a blast to watch these very talented females riff off of each other in one of the better femcoms of recent years. Don’t expect a genre-buster and you’ll be just fine, especially if you want a tight film that’ll make you chuckle. All aboard the bachelorette train!

 

Now, where’s my adult diaper and a sack of coke...