Rough Night: Bachelorette Party Misadventure Falls Short of Bridesmaids

(L to R) Blair (Zoë Kravitz), Alice (Jillian Bell), Jess (Scarlett Johansson), Frankie (Illana Grazer) and Pippa (Kate McKinnon) in Columbia Pictures’ ROUGH NIGHT. Photo credit: Macall B. Polay.

Rough Night is another Bachelorette Party misadventure and it falls short of being on the same level as Bridesmaids.

Directed by Lucia Aniello from a screenplay written by Aniello & Paul W. Downs, Rough Night stars Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer,  Zoë Kravitz, Paul W. Downs, Ty Burrell, and Demi Moore.   Enrique Murciano, Karan Soni, and Dean Winters also star.

The R-rated comedy starts out with some college friends (Jess, Alice, Frankie, and Blair) at a party ten years ago before they reunite for Jess’s bachelorette party over a weekend in Miami.  She’s running for state office and down in the polls to someone who keeps posting photos of their genitals on social media.  Jess is engaged to Peter (co-writer Downs) and leaves him at home for the weekend.

At dinner in Miami, Jess’s friends from college are joined by Pippa (McKinnon), an Australian who shared a college semester with Jess.  They decide to go out and party and get so high that they end up hiring a stripper.  This is where the movie takes an interesting turn.  It turns out that the person who they thought was a stripper turns out to be a wanted criminal.  They don’t know this until after Alice kills him as she jumps.

Later on in the night, Jess is taking a shower when two cops knock on the door.  Only they aren’t really cops but worked together with the dead stripper.  This was a twist that I didn’t see coming but can’t say it’s not predictable.  They are looking for diamonds that their now-dead partner had in his possession when he went running.

Hilarity ensues as they try to figure out what to do with the body.  At one point, they dump it in the ocean before noticing the Pietro and Lea’s (Burrell and Moore) security cameras.  Despite the pants having been weighed down with rocks.

Other than being a female-driven comedy set during a bachelorette party weekend, there’s not really anything that can tie Rough Night to Bridesmaids other than actress Jillian Bell having played a girl at the bridal shower.  Rough Night comes from two writers of Broad City.

Released opposite 47 Meters Down, Rough Night struggled this weekend at the box office due to the mixed reviews.  While movies may not be made for critics, it certainly shows the power that critics have when people are deciding which movie to see.

Columbia Pictures opened Rough Night in theaters on June  16, 2017.

Danielle Solzman

Danielle Solzman is native of Louisville, KY, and holds a BA in Public Relations from Northern Kentucky University and a MA in Media Communications from Webster University. She roots for her beloved Kentucky Wildcats, St. Louis Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, and Boston Celtics. Living less than a mile away from Wrigley Field in Chicago, she is an active reader (sports/entertainment/history/biographies/select fiction) and involved with the Chicago improv scene. She also sees many movies and reviews them. She has previously written for Redbird Rants, Wildcat Blue Nation, and Hidden Remote/Flicksided. From April 2016 through May 2017, her film reviews can be found on Creators.

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