Vacation Friends Review: John Cena and Lil Rel Howery is THE wild bromance sure to tickle your funny bones

Vacation Friends

Vacation Friends Cast: John Cena, Lil Rel Howery, Meredith Hagner, Yvonne Orji

Vacation Friends Director: Clay Tarver

Streaming Platform: Disney+Hotstar

Vacation Friends Stars: 3/5

If you've willingly consented to watch Vacation Friends, you know what you're getting yourself into! Surprisingly, it's not just another no-brainer movie with a good-looking cast and an exotic location, albeit both divisions are packing. Rather, there's even a bit of a heart induced in Clay Tarver's wild comedy about two contrasting couples, whose lives entangle after an adventure-driven week in Mexico.

Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) is a man who always has a plan A-Z while his girlfriend Emily (Yvonne Orji) flows with the love of her life's zest for everything being under schedule while secretly wishing for some chaos in their calm. While on vacation in Mexico, Marcus' romantic plans of a proposal come crashing down, quite literally, when their hotel suite is flooded due to the jacuzzi overflowing from atop the Presidential suite. The latter is occupied by white hipster couple Ron (John Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner), who as an apology for wrecking the proposal, invite the duo to their room.

What it entails is a week-long friendship with the concluding night of epic proportions, including copious amounts of alcohol, substance and at one point, even wrestling and bullet wounds. However, for Marcus and Emily, the high subsides when they return to their real world, where it's not all fun and games. Before bidding their hungover farewells, an obliged "see you later" comes back to bite the couple when their wedding is eventually crashed by Ron and Kyla, who as expected, were uninvited intruders. What is supposed to stay in Mexico, well, doesn't!

What also isn't helpful is the fact that Emily's father Harold (Robert Wisdom) is anti-Marcus while he has an instant liking towards Ron because of their prior professional background. Marcus is also at odds with his future brother-in-law Gabe (Andrew Bachelor) due to a past violent encounter. With so much already at stake, their final night rendezvous in Mexico eventually culminates in a twist that adds more complications to what is supposed to be, the perfect wedding.

The storyline, though simplistic, still has some emotional gravitas attached to it as you're intrigued by these four characters and why they are the way they are. However, Clay's script (Tom Mullen, Tim Mullen, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley are co-writers as well!) doesn't aim to delve into their muses' backstories; they're just looking for plain ol' fun. A literal holiday feel, if you may! Vacation Friends, honestly, depends on what mood you're in while watching the film and for this reviewer, she was left surprisingly satiated.

While the dialogues are not "laugh out loud" witty, it's the cast's dialogue delivery that makes the sequences funny. John and Lil make for a whacky duo, who tickle your funny bones with their comfortable camaraderie. On one hand, Cena has time and again proved his knack for comedy and in Vacation Friends, his over-the-top vibrant personality is never overbearing and rather delightful to watch. Like, imagine WWE Cena on crack! On the other hand, Howery adds the emotional quotient to his conflicted character as you're rooting for Marcus to win. However, the subplot of his success story could have been delved into better, especially with the race connotation.

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When it comes to the ladies, Meredith as Kyla is the ditzy scene-stealer with her comic timing while Yvonne as Emily is underused inspite of the plot majorly centring on her prim and proper family.

In finality, Vacation Friends is basically the movie equivalent of the unlikely friends you make during getaways, get engulfed by the dosage of fun, and then subsequently forget once the real world kicks in.