You have to hand it to Hulu to make us appreciate the summer we had at the movies. If you haven’t developed an appreciation for the art form across a wide variety of genres this summer, like stunning dramas like Oppenheimer and Past Lives to the resurgence of hard R-rated comedies like Joy Ride and No Hard Feelings.
From stunningly original works like Barbie and They Cloned Tyrone to animated nostalgia like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, action spectaculars like Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, and an animated masterpiece like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, it’s been an embarrassment of riches.
Then Vacation Friends 2 arrives with a thud, like someone who lost their last dollar and decided to take one last step toward the tallest hotel in the city of sin. It’s a comedy sequel no one asked for, and I cannot imagine anyone else would recommend it.
However, let’s consider that Hulu might have offered this film as a sacrificial lamb. Not to bring us down, mind you, but to remind us of how lucky we were.
Vacation Friends 2 Review and Plot Summary
The last time we saw Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) and his future wife, Emily (Yvonne Orji), they embraced the overall weirdness and boundary-breaking antics of Ron (John Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner). Anyone in their right mind would have called the local authorities instead of showing inhuman patience and politeness to these two new vacation friends.
After somehow rebuilding their brief relationship with this wild and uninhibited couple, Marcus invites them back a few months later for an all-expenses-paid trip to a Caribbean resort that’s a cover for the most important meeting of Marcus’s professional life.
Unfortunately, Kyla’s crooked, white-collar, and San Quentin’s ex-con father is released from prison and shows up at their hotel room door.
Vacation Friends 2 is even worse than the Hulu original
Vacation Friends 2 was directed by Clay Tarver, who decided to work with his original script after scrapping the initial writing team of Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Tim Mullen, and Tom Mullen.
One might hope this change would bring improvement, particularly considering Tarver’s background as a producer for one of the century’s smartest and funniest series, Silicon Valley. However, the same underlying issue persists from the first film—this comedy lacks genuine laughs. Essentially, it struggles to evoke even the slightest amusement.
Tarver also needs to pay more attention to the charms and charisma of the male leads, Howery and Cena. While the former wrestler possesses a gifted, endearing charm in most roles, it quickly wears thin. Buscemi is brought in to alleviate some of the burden on the cast.
However, his characters, much like Hagner’s overtly annoying Kyla, lack the self-control to such an extent that they become paper-thin, cartoonish figures that become grating. Meanwhile, Orji’s Emily is trapped in a role that portrays her as a critical female cliché.
Vacation Friends 2 essentially revisits the first film’s plot, only this time, Marcus and Emily are pursuing parenthood. However, he’s still depicted as a workaholic (oddly, movies often present this trait as negative, despite its intention to provide stability and security for a family).
Those Recycled plot twists emerge; instead of antagonizing each other, they find new dance partners who irritate them, resulting in not just one but multiple mundane storylines.
Is Vacation Friends 2 worth watching?
Howery and Cena’s characters struggle to win over new individuals in their lives. Cena’s Ron contends with meeting his father-in-law (Steve Buscemi), subjecting him to the same challenges we’ve witnessed countless times.
Meanwhile, Howery’s Marcus endeavors to impress a new client (played by Ronny Chieng, specializing in portraying yuppy, arrogant gas bags of late), and the mishaps pile up to our dismay.
Is Vacation Friends 2 good or bad?
There’s nothing inherently wrong with recycling material with a fresh perspective as long as it’s performed to a high degree. However, this appears to be a basic streaming attempt at marketing, aiming to garner subscriptions and promote product placements by repackaging better film concepts.
Plot holes are hastily resolved through chance, and the apparent manipulation the film is desperately and obviously aiming for doesn’t help matters.
However, the primary issue is Vacation Friends 2 just isn’t funny. If you value your time, invest it in comedies like Bottoms, Theater Camp, and Strays rather than this recycled and retweaked content.
Verdict: “Vacation Friends 2 is even worse than the original.” 1.5/5
Did you watch the Hulu film Vacation Friends 2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!