MIKE & NICK & NICK & ALICE Review

Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice follows Mike (James Marsden), a gangster trying to leave that world behind, when he's approached on his final night by Nick (Vince Vaughn) for one final job. Mike is secretly dating Alice (Eiza González), who also happens to be Nick's wife. Tensions rise when Mike realizes the Nick he's working with isn't present day Nick, but a time traveling Nick from six months in the future, trying to save Mike on the night he was originally killed.

The film also stars Jimmy Tatro as Jimmy Boy, a gangster who just got out of jail, and Keith David as Sosa, the crime lord who believes Mike was the rat who got Jimmy Boy, his son, arrested.

The movie works best as a vehicle for this well-matched ensemble. Vince Vaughn is perfect casting for this dual role, getting to see the differences in his character motivations before and after the regret of the original night sets in. Plus, we get two Vince Vaughns, which is fun on its own. Marsden and Gonzáles are great counterbalances to him, and it's fun watching these three (four?) argue and try to work together.

It's Tatro and David, however, who really steal the show as the main antagonists. Tatro has an undeniable screen presence and is the only character whose comedic moments occasionally landed. David matches his energy and almost makes me wish there were more scenes focused on the two of them.

For how good this ensemble is, however, the writing and overall story progression really lets them down.

The premise is set up well at the beginning and is even kind of interesting. The dual Nicks add an interesting layer to what could otherwise be overly familiar. The tension of why this night is so important is clear, and the character dynamics created by Mike dating Nick's wife help add levity to the chemistry between them.

As the story progresses, however, it continues to lose its credibility. A side plot that happened in the past that we do not see happen, with a character who we do not get to know, happens almost purely as a scapegoat to explain away why they can't reach the obvious conclusion. When things don't go Sosa's way, he amps up his next step to 100 in a way that feels completely unearned. This all leads to a third act that feels like big action for big action's sake.

The attempts at comedy are also mostly a miss, if not somewhat misguided. There's a whole argument scene between the main characters about the characters in Gilmore Girls, which also comes back around to another joke later in the movie. Having never seen the show, I still understood the concept of what they were arguing about, but it still felt like I was being left out of it. Even outside of that specific instance, the tone of the comedy never really felt like it meshed with the tone of the serious aspects, only getting a couple slight laughs at most from me here and there.

The mismatched tone and unearned story progress left me feeling mostly cold about a movie that had enough ingredients to be enjoyable. Still, I wouldn't fully discourage someone who enjoys these kinds of action-comedy movies from trying this out on Hulu. If you're able to temper your expectations of logic and take it in for what it is, you might just get more enjoyment out of it than me.

🍿SCORE = 56/100