Vacation Friends Review: My Balls Work Because of You

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When I first started watching Vacation Friends, all I could think about was just how unhinged everything seemed to be. And how did this unhinged movie get a sequel? Now, after watching this movie and understanding Ron and Kyla’s characters, I can say, that this all makes sense. I do have to say, the first few minutes of the movie were quite enjoyable. It does seem to slow down a bit mid-movie, but it does pick up again near the end.

If you’re looking for a movie to watch to pass the time, Vacation Friends would work for you there. Overall, this movie provides a few laughs due to the sheer absurdity of the premise. Now, there were a few moments that made me laugh, but it wasn’t a gut-busting experience. If you want to play a comedy, then try this one on for size.

Alright, as usual, let’s get into some specifics, and, once again, spoilers will be coming up in the review ahead. Is everything all set and ready? Let’s begin.

So, let’s start with the plot of this comedy, Vacation Friends. As the title suggests, this movie is about a couple, Marcus and Emily. While on this vacation, Marcus plans to propose to Emily, and due to many circumstances, it doesn’t go exactly to plan. However, they do get engaged.

Another couple that was watching from the sidelines, Ron and Kyla, decided to celebrate with the newly engaged. And just like that, Marcus and Emily have made some new, vacation friends, if you will. After their adventures in Mexico, the remainder of the movie is spent at the wedding.

Now, I’ve said this plenty in other reviews, but a simple plot leaves room for other aspects to shine. With Vacation Friends being a comedy, I can’t say I was expecting some super deep plot about the meaning of friendship and love.

In this regard, it was nice to see a simple plot. However, I do feel like the movie didn’t add enough comedy to balance out the slower plot. There were a lot of small plot points in the movie that could’ve either been sped up or rearranged. Overall though, it was a satisfactory plot.

I think the main point of the movie was to highlight the absurdity of the situations through the characters. As a lead, Marcus and Emily were alright. Marcus’ character is all about being uptight, which I felt was a bit too much. However, the moments when he was able to relax and let things go, were great. It also led to the more comedic moments of the movie, which was nice.

I think my favourite part of his character was how he stood up for himself at the end of the movie against Gabe, Emily’s sister, after all the passive aggressiveness and slander he had to endure. That sucker punch was great to watch. Our other main lead, Emily, was alright as well.

Personality-wise, she was a lot tamer compared to Marcus, Ron, and Kyla. As such, I felt like she disappeared into the background in a few scenes. The only reason it was easy to spot her was because she was the bride-to-be. With that, she was in a lot of main shots, which made her hard to miss. But when she was off to the side, it was easy to forget about her.

The final two characters are Ron and Kyla, and I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever watched something with such unhinged characters. Like, the amount of shenanigans these two characters got into or influenced was a lot. As such, I did like the crazy things this couple got up to.

Now, I know that some people wouldn’t be too pleased to meet them in real life, since they are a lot. In that sense, I would agree. Since this is a movie, they do get some redemption, but if I were to meet these people in real life, they would probably be too much.

So, to wrap up the review, I do want to cover some of the aspects that I didn’t particularly like. For one it felt like there weren’t enough comedic scenes. There were a few great scenes at the start and during the wedding, but the space between felt a bit dry.

I think another aspect that made the movie feel less funny was the fact that all the twists and every plot point were very obvious. It was only funny when it went against my expectations, however, most of the movie went exactly as I thought. This was a bit disappointing since the setup was there. Vacation Friends didn’t fully deliver.

Overall, I have to say that the movie was funny enough. If anything, Vacation Friends was just a very unhinged movie. So many absurd things happen at the start and end, but it leaves the middle of the movie quite dry. If you’re looking for something just to play, then Vacation Friends can work, however, don’t expect a super funny or profound movie. You won’t get that.