Rough Night

What do you get when you cross an Australian, a couple of drunk Americans, a bachelorette weekend and a strippergram? You get an average movie, with a predictable plot line but a few good laughs along the way.

“Rough Night” is pretty much what you’re expecting. A bunch of women reuniting after a few years for a bachelorette weekend, and soon realising that time actually changes you, and your relationships with others. The recipe isn’t anything you haven’t seen before, and the premise almost overdone, but the laughs are genuine and overall, it’s not a terrible movie.

We meet best friends Jess (Scarlett Johannson), Alice (Jillian Bell), Frankie (Ilana Glazer) and Blair (Zoë Kravitz) in college, doing what college kids do – drinking too much and forming “forever bonds”. 10 years pass and the girls reunite plus 1 Australian roommate (Pippa, played by Kate McKinnon) from a semester abroad. The first night turns into disaster after they accidentally kill the stripper that turns up to “perform” except it’s painfully obvious to me, but apparently no one else, that he doesn’t seem very much like a stripper. Not really a spoiler alert, cause I think that’s the whole point of this movie, no?

Anyway hi jinx ensue as the mission is on to hide the body, with meddling sex-crazed neighbours (played brilliantly by Ty Burrell and Demi Moore), pizza men, sexual tension and actual strippers getting in the way, not to mention the subplot of the friendships coming to a head in a massive girl fight in the middle of it all. Meanwhile, the bride-to-be’s fiancée is losing his mind at the thought of his sweetheart potentially cheating on him.

There are a lot of laughs to be had in “Rough Night”, mainly in the form of Kate McKinnon. Her Australian accent is a little cliche but it works and her assimilation into the Floridian world is quite funny. Horny Alice, as I will call her, also brings regular laughter, but her character is predictable and pretty much seen in every comedy. Think the other Alice (Kathryn Hahn) from Step Brothers, or really any other outcast friend that feels misunderstood, left out and underestimated.

For girls nights out, this movie will kick all the goals you need. Penis jokes, girlie bonding, shirtless men, a little bit of girl on girl action, laughing at a man’s reaction to a tampon and of course a wedding. There’s probably a character in there that every girl will relate to on some level. Be it the workaholic who gets in trouble for leaving her friends in the dust, the one struggling with a divorce and getting custody of her kid, the girl who hasn’t really left her college life or beliefs behind after 10 years, or the girl who just wants to fit in, but feels like the world around her is moving faster than she is. We’ve all been there. The only problem is, though these situations are all relatable, they don’t really get dissected in depth in “Rough Night”, essentially left behind in lieu of the dead stripper story that is being played out around them. Let’s not even mention the “save the wedding” storyline that’s happening pathetically in the background.

So really, there’s no need to sit here and analyse it. Take “Rough Night” as it’s meant to be taken, after a couple of wines with some girlfriends needing a good belly laugh. That’s not to say your boyfriend won’t enjoy it, if he likes jokes about dicks and a bit of lesbian action, he might be slightly amused. My boyfriend won’t, though. Hey baby! I took one for the team for you! X