Joey Magidson
There are so many high concept action comedies that just utterly fall flat. In fact, it’s almost the exception when one really succeeds. Streaming is littered with genre works that have A-list names and a seemingly interesting hook, yet only middling execution. So, despite debuting on Hulu today, it’s a legitimate joy to see just how creative Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice truly is. This is an action comedy with a science fiction hook that’s both really funny and features hugely satisfying action sequences. You rarely get gangsters and time travel put together, let alone with digressions about Gilmore Girls, but it all just works in this film.
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice doesn’t overthink its sci-fi premise, instead just using the time travel aspect as a way to up the ante with the action and comedy aspects. In doing so, you don’t have to really think about whether the logic of it all adds up, instead getting a kick out of what the concept actually ends up putting forward. I was consistently amused and surprised, which doesn’t happen too often with movies like this.
Mike (James Marsden) is a burnt out gangster looking to get out of the business. He’s having an affair with Alice (Eiza González), the wife of his friend and longtime partner Nick (Vince Vaughn), which has him fearing for his life. They’re planning on running away together on the night of a big party thrown by Mike and Nick’s boss Sosa (Keith David) to celebrate the release from prison of his son Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro). Sosa is also looking for who ratted on Jimmy Boy, which Nick has information about. When Nick comes to Mike for help on a job right before he’s about to leave with Alice, he’s sure he’s about to be whacked. Instead, Nick needs him to knock out someone, though he won’t say who. When he knocks on the door of the home he’s instructed to go to, he finds…another Nick (Vaughn).
A brutal fight later and that Nick gets away, leading the first Nick to show up and say that, yes, he’s from the future. Alice’s friend and their acquaintance Symon (Ben Schwartz) actually built a time machine, one that six months from now, Nick has used to go back and right some of the wrongs in his life. As those wrongs and the future of everyone slowly comes to light, the three/four of them have to survive the night, as Sosa has reason to believe that Mike is the rat. Hilarity, as well as some brutal action, ensues.
James Marsden and Vince Vaughn are having a lot of fun here, especially Marsden, who gets to be both a tough guy and a comedic lead. Vaughn plays both Nicks in just enough of a different way that you never have trouble figuring out who is who, and Eiza González amusingly goes toe to toe with both of them. The funniest bits in the film involve them just talking, including a debate about Gilmore Girls boyfriends. Keith David and Jimmy Tatro have their moments, with the former putting a spin on the mob boss, while the latter being a really dummy, though somewhat endearingly so. In addition to Ben Schwartz, who gets to sing the Billy Joel song “Why Should I Worry?” from Oliver & Company, the cast includes Arturo Castro, Emily Hampshire, Stephen Root, and more.
Filmmaker BenDavid Grabinski consistently manages to upend your expectations in this flick. Whether it’s the surprisingly thoughtful way that the action sequences are composed, the funny digressions, or the character building moments, there’s more here than meets the eye. Plus, it has an absolutely killer soundtrack, easily one of the year’s best. Some slack pacing in the middle keeps Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice from being truly great, but this is a very good film that deserves not to be slept on.
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is a real pleasant surprise. I went in having heard good things and curious how the high concept would play out. The movie ended with me having had an absolute blast. Now streaming on Hulu, if you give this one a shot, you’ll almost certainly end up feeling the same way that I did.
SCORE: ★★★
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