Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice Review: Vince Vaughn And James Marsden’s Messy Genre Mashup Relies On Tired Jokes

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Over the past twenty years, studio comedies have largely moved away from playful, slapstick humor towards a more cynical and detached style. While some recent films, like last year’s The Naked Gun, have happily broken that mold, we’re now seeing a lot of comedies that try to create humor from realistic situations, rather than relying on over-the-top silliness. This is especially true in BenDavid Grabinski’s latest film, a quirky time travel comedy that often prioritizes confusing, rapid-fire dialogue over making any logical sense, and quickly becomes irritating.

A perfect example of their dynamic: Nick tells Mike, a notorious gangster known as “Quick Draw,” to use chloroform. Surprisingly, Mike has never even heard of it. Nick then asks if Mike has ever watched a movie, leading to a ridiculous conversation where Mike finally understands that the “wet rag thing” he’s always known is actually chloroform.

It’s already a bit odd, but did you notice the crime boss, Sosa (Keith David), who’s in his late 60s, has never even heard of Winnie the Pooh? And his son, Jimmy (Jimmy Tatro), doesn’t know what “comeuppance” means? These moments, and others like them, feel like writer Grabinski is just using these little oddities as excuses for sarcastic banter. This type of humor only really works when the group gets sidetracked discussing Gilmore Girls, but even that feels unbelievable considering they’re supposed to be figuring out how to survive.

Odd Stylistic Choices & A Frustrating Lack Of Propulsion Doom This Action-Comedy

Grabinski’s film tries to do too much, blending science fiction, crime drama, and the time-loop concept from Groundhog Day. It’s most engaging when it experiments with its structure, but the director often draws attention to how complicated the story is. This hurts the film’s momentum, especially since it also aims to be an action-packed thriller. Just as things start to build, the movie stops to remind you how strange everything is.

It’s not that surprising, really. Mike and Nick are professional criminals working for a group throwing a welcome-back party for Jimmy, who’s just been released after six years in prison. Jimmy protected the group by staying silent, but they still suspect someone betrayed them and is hiding among them. Meanwhile, Mike and Alice (Eiza González) are having an affair. Alice has been unhappy in her marriage to Nick for a while and knows he’s been unfaithful to her repeatedly.

So, after Jimmy’s party, I thought Mike was finally going to connect with Alice, but things took a seriously strange turn. Instead of Alice, he finds Nick waiting for him, and Nick ropes him into one last job. Get this – the job is for Mike to knock out Nick! Not just any Nick, though – it’s a Nick from six months in the future, a future where Mike is supposedly dead. Apparently, this future Nick traveled back in time because he accidentally labeled Mike as the mole, and he wants to stop his past self from making that same mistake. It’s a total time-bending mess, but it makes a weird kind of sense, you know?

Jimmy, Sosa, and their friends – including a character literally named Dumbass Tony (played by Arturo Castro) – keep moving from one party to another, each one wilder than the last. The movie relies heavily on goofy, bro-centric humor that feels outdated, and the director uses distracting techniques like quick changes in video speed and an overabundance of music cues to tell the story.

I really wanted to like Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, especially because of some great acting. Tatro is hilarious as this over-the-top character, and Ben Schwartz brings a lot of energy to the role of the time machine inventor. But honestly, the characters felt a little flat, and the story was just too messy. It was frustrating jumping between fast-paced action and really drawn-out dialogue, and there were so many sci-fi ideas that just didn’t get explained. It’s a shame, because if the writer could travel back in time, I think he’d want to rewrite a lot of it.

Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice screened at the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival.

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2026-03-16 04:18