Rough Night | Scarlett and the girls just wanna have fun

Rough Night Zoe Kravitz Kate McKinnon Scarlett Johansson Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer
(Image credit: Macall B. Polay)

The hangover will be the least of their problems.

Pitching itself somewhere between Bridesmaids and The Hangover, raunchy chick flick Rough Night supplies the odd burst of raucous fun but falls well short of its hilarious role models.

The cast is great, though. Scarlett Johansson takes the lead as starchy aspiring politician and bride to be Jess, who takes a break from her state senate campaign to hook up with a trio of old college friends (Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, and Zoë Kravitz) and a newer Aussie pal (Kate McKinnon) for a bachelorette weekend in Miami. Things soon get very wild. And after the gang has taken lots of drugs and ordered a male stripper from Craigslist, they find themselves in a terrible jam.

Rough Night Kate McKinnon Scarlett Johansson

When the plot takes a dark turn, the movie becomes very hit-and-miss. On the minus side, the bitching and bonding feels rote, and the presence of a libidinous swinger couple living next door (played by Demi Moore and Ty Burrell) promises more than it delivers. But the ever-reliable McKinnon provides a priceless moment of slapstick comedy, while Jess’s drippy Beta-male fiancé (Paul W Downs, who co-wrote the screenplay with director Lucia Aniello) delivers the odd laugh, too, when he attempts to drive all night to Miami, wearing an adult diaper and revved up on Red Bull and pills.

Certificate 15. Runtime 101 mins. Director Lucia Aniello

Rough Night available on Blu-ray & DVD from 26 December, and on Digital from 18 December.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyIlMQvv-qk

Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.