''Vacation Friends'' is a 2021 American buddy

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Clay Tarver Clay Tarver (born November 8, 1965, in San Antonio, Texas) is an American guitarist and writer. He was the co-showrunner and an executive producer of ''Silicon Valley''. Biography Music career Tarver—who graduated from Harvard University in 1 ...

, who co-wrote the film with Tom Mullen, Tim Mullen, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. It stars

Lil Rel Howery Milton "Lil Rel" Howery Jr. (born December 17, 1979) is an American actor and comedian. Howery is known for playing Robert Carmichael in NBC's television comedy series ''The Carmichael Show'' (2015–2017) and Transportation Security Administratio ...

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American part-time professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper. He is currently signed to WWE. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is tied ...

Yvonne Orji Yvonne Anuli Orji (born 2 December 1983) is a Nigerian-American actress and comedian. She is best known for her role in the television series '' Insecure'' (2016–2021), for which she has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and three NAAC ...

Meredith Hagner Meredith Kathleen Hagner (born May 31, 1987) is an American actress. She began her career portraying Liberty Ciccone on the CBS soap opera ''As the World Turns'' (2008–2010), which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Yo ...

Robert Wisdom Robert Ray Wisdom (born September 14, 1953) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Howard "Bunny" Colvin in '' The Wire,'' Norman "Lechero" St. John in ''Prison Break'', and Harold Conway in the 2021 Hulu movie ''Vacation Friends''. ...

Lynn Whitfield Lynn Whitfield ('' née'' Smith; born February 15, 1953) is an American actress. She began her acting career in television and theatre before progressing to supporting roles in film. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a ...

, and

Andrew Bachelor Andrew Byron Bachelor (born June 26, 1988), also known as King Bach is a Canadian-American Internet personality and actor who rose to fame on the now-defunct video sharing service Vine, where he had 16.2 million followers, making him the most fol ...

. Distributed by 20th Century Studios, ''Vacation Friends'' was released on Hulu on August 27, 2021, receiving mixed reviews from critics. A sequel titled ''Honeymoon Friends'' is in development.

Plot

Marcus and Emily are on vacation in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where he intends to propose. His plan is ruined when first their room is flooded, and then a hotel employee ruins the surprise. With no other choice, Marcus proposes to her on the spot in the lobby, and she accepts. Wild and carefree Ron and Kyla watch their special moment, inviting them to stay with them for their trip. The four spend their vacation together, which includes Marcus and Emily eloping. Both black out due to excessive drinking but Marcus briefly regains consciousness during what appears to be Kyla having sex with him. The next day, Emily remembers nothing from the night before and Marcus decides to keep what he recalls a secret. At the end of their vacation, Marcus and Emily decide to cut ties with Ron and Kyla. Months later, Marcus and Emily have their official wedding, hosted by Emily's parents, Harold and Suzanne. They, especially Harold, don't approve of Marcus, partly because of an incident where Marcus punched Emily's brother Gabe. Harold entrusts Marcus with the rings for the wedding, which belonged to Emily's great-grandparents. Before the ceremony, Ron and Kyla crash the reception after discovering the wedding location online. Harold is initially furious at the intrusion, but instantly welcomes the couple after learning that Ron was a fellow

Green Beret The green beret was the official headdress of the British Commandos of the Second World War. It is still worn by members of the Royal Marines after passing the Commando Course, and personnel from other units of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF wh ...

. Kyla reveals she is pregnant and Marcus is 'directly involved' in the pregnancy, making him believe that he is the baby's father. The next day, Ron speaks to Harold, convincing him to give Marcus a second chance. A grateful Marcus selects Ron to be

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...

, and Ron convinces Marcus to entrust him with the rings. The next day, the men go

golfing Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping w ...

, with Gabe and his friend. To Marcus's chagrin, Ron suggests they bet on the game. Halfway through the round, Ron reveals that he bankrolled the wagers by

pawning A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as Collateral (finance), collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves c ...

the wedding rings. On the final hole, Ron makes a massive bet that he can hit the 18th green in a single stroke. Despite Ron initially looking at the wrong green, forcing him to make a 375-yard shot to win the bet, he miraculously sinks a

hole in one In golf, a hole in one or hole-in-one (also known as an ace, mostly in American English) occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. A ball hit from a tee following a lost ball, out-of-bounds, or water hazard is not a h ...

to win the bet. (Actually, he had bribed a golf course employee to plant the ball in the hole.) After returning to the pawnshop to retrieve the rings, Ron accidentally causes Marcus to drop the rings in a sewer grate. Marcus chokes Ron in anger, who reveals that he was told by a doctor that he was sterile and that Kyla got pregnant 'because of Marcus'. At the rehearsal dinner, Kyla prepares to make a speech, where it seems like she is going to announce that Marcus is the father of her child. He interrupts, sharing the full story of what he believes happened in Mexico, only for Kyla to reveal they only intend to name the baby after Marcus, and he is not the father. Marcus tells an angry Harold the rings were lost and a fight ensues. Outside the wedding hall, Marcus and Emily angrily demand that Ron and Kyla leave. Emily's grandma, Phyllis delivers a wedding gift from Kyla. The letter inside reveals that Ron had lost his previous best friend Charlie (on military duty) and that his relationship with her and Marcus has helped him to recover. The gift is the wedding rings, which Ron retrieved from the sewer. Emily and Marcus realize they made a mistake by sending Kyla and Ron away, so they eventually find them. The four reunite, while Ron and Kyla reveal they are finally planning to marry, holding the same ceremony in Mexico where Marcus and Emily tied the knot, along with their family and friends joining.

Cast

as Ron, Kyla's partner *

as Marcus Parker, Emily's partner *

as Emily Conway-Parker, Marcus’ wife, Harold and Suzanne's daughter *

as Kyla, Ron's partner *

as Gabe *

as Suzanne Conway, Emily's mother and Harold's wife *

as Harold Conway, Emily's father and Suzanne's husband * Tawny Newsome as Brooke * Kamal Bolden as Bennet * Barry Rothbart as Darren * Anna Maria Horsford as Nancy * Carlos Santos (comedian) as Maurillio

Production

In March 2014, it was announced Chris Pratt and

Anna Faris Anna Kay Faris (; born November 29, 1976) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her work in comedic roles, particularly the lead part of Cindy Campbell in the ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has appeared in a number ...

were set to star in the film, with

Steve Pink Steve Pink (born February 3, 1966) is an American actor, director and writer. He is the director of the comedy films ''Accepted'' and ''Hot Tub Time Machine'', and the co-writer of the films ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' and ''High Fidelity (film), H ...

set to direct from a screenplay by Tom and Tim Mullen, and 20th Century Fox distributing. In November 2015, it was reported Ice Cube had signed on to replace Pratt, with Faris no longer attached. In December 2019, it was announced

, and

would star in the film instead, with

replacing Pink, 20th Century Studios attached to produce, and Hulu set to distribute. In January 2020,

joined the cast of the film. In March 2020, Tawny Newsome and Barry Rothbart were added as well, and in September 2020,

and Kamal Bolden also signed on to co-star.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in March 2020. However, production was halted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Production resumed in September 2020, and concluded in October 2020.

Release

The film was released on Hulu on August 27, 2021, in the United States,

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

in international markets such as Canada and the United Kingdom. It was released as a launch title on

Star+ A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

on August 31 in Latin America. Disney+ Hotstar released the film in India on August 27, and in select territories on September 3, 2021.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film holds an approval rating of 58% based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 5.60/10. The critics consensus reads, "The laughs aren't always in steady supply, but the terrific cast makes ''Vacation Friends'' a comedy you can stream without serious reservations." According to

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which sampled 16 critics and calculated a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews". Glenn Kenny of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' stated that the movie's strength resides in its cast that successfully manages to provide entertainment, while finding Clay Tarver's direction skillful compared to what other buddy comedy movie directors provide. Matthew Aguilar of ''

Comicbook.com The following is a list of major assets that are owned by Paramount Global. Paramount Pictures Corporation (Film) * Paramount Pictures ** Paramount Home Entertainment ** Paramount Television Studios ** Paramount Pictures International ** Para ...

'' rated the movie 4 out of 5 stars, found that the chemistry between the cast members delivers delight, praised the performances of the actors, while finding that Tarver's direction skillfully captures the attention of the audience with his own perspective on the buddy comedy genre. Matt Fowler of ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' rated the movie 7 out of 10 and praised the chemistry between the characters, complimented the performances of the cast, stating that both Cena and Meredith Hagner have a natural aptitude to provide a sharp humor, despite finding the movie unsurprising with its plot. Brandon Katz of ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

'' rated the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, claimed that the movie proves Cena is successfully able to portray characters in the comedy genre, found the soundtrack and classic humor of the movie enjoyable, despite finding it a bit generic compared to other buddy comedy movies.

Sequel

In September 2021, it was reported that a sequel titled ''Honeymoon Friends'' was in development, with the cast and Clay Tarver set to return.

References

External links

* at 20th Century Studios * at Hulu * {{John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein 2021 films 2021 comedy films 2020s buddy comedy films 20th Century Studios films American buddy comedy films Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films about vacationing Films scored by Rolfe Kent Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state) Hulu original films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films