Vacation Friends 2 review

Like its predecessor, Vacation Friends 2 is not high-class humor. It’s all about wild, over the top and frequently crass humor. And that’s perfectly alright as this film is just fine being the sometimes obnoxious, raunchy buddy comedy that doesn’t need to apologize for not being some sophisticated (read: stuffy) comedy.

Viewers that were turned off from the jokes and themes of the first film aren’t going to suddenly have some magical revelation. The film stays squarely in its lane and isn’t aspiring to deliver some inspirational message. It’s all about a good time.

Marcus (Lil Rel Howery, The Out-Laws) and his wife, Emily (Yvonne Orji, The Blackening), reconnect with their crazy carefree pals Ron (John Cena, Fast X) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner, Joy Ride) for a Caribbean vacation. Ron and Kyla haven’t let a little thing like having a baby dull their unhinged, reckless lifestyle.

Still, even Ron and Kyla understand they’d be terrible parents for letting their baby run around unchecked and recruit Maurillio (Carlos Santos), the concierge from the group’s previous vacation resort to tag along as a guest/babysitter. Marcus has an ulterior motive for the trip as he’s scouting out the resort as he prepares a pitch to the resort owner the following week.

Of course, that plan goes terribly awry as the group wants to move up the proposal meeting up a week…while Ron and Kyla are here living their best life and Kyla’s father, Reese (Steve Buscemi), has crashed the vacay with his own agenda.

Clay Tarver returns to direct and handles sole screenwriting duties this time. The first film had five credited screenwriters, including Tarver. This actually works out as Tarver dials down a fraction of the more juvenile humor. Sure, Kyla still has some pearl clutching dialogue, but it’s not as indulgent as it was the first film. Tarver isn’t trying to shock viewers so much with Kyla and Ron’s antics this time around allowing other scenarios to keep the plot moving.

For Marcus that’s the corporate VP Yeong (Ronnie Chieng, Joy Ride) who initially doesn’t think much of him, but gradually warms up to him thanks to Ron’s charming influence. Ron has a challenge this time as Reese doesn’t like him at all. Emily and Kyla aren’t left on the sidelines getting their own subplots to make them more than complementary players to the Marcus and Ron show.

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Howery’s line delivery and spazz out moments occasionally comes off like an adequately compensated Kevin Hart. It’s not a cheap, knock off impression and Howery brings his own take to the shorter guy with the shorter temper shtick. He and Cena play off each other very well fully bringing the charm back to the nearly extinct buddy comedy genre. Cena is a versatile comedian who gets how to use his wrestling physique for big laughs.

Orji and Hagner are also plenty of fun as well. Orji sells scenes beautifully with a sideways glance and gets enough jokes to be more than the straight woman for everyone else.  Hagner really diving in headfirst in every scene to show off Kyla’s wild side.

Sometimes bringing back fun supporting players from one film to the sequel feels like desperately trying to recapture the magic, but Santos gets plenty of moments to give Maurillio some standout scenes with a terrific deadpan delivery. Buscemi has no problem playing a shady, eccentric character.

There’s a minor 15- to 20-minute stretch where Tarver has to ease off the jokes to properly set up the stakes and drama. It’s necessary, but kind of slows some of the momentum.

Vacation Friends 2 hits all the right marks for a sequel with some fresh angles to avoid feeling like a stale retread. This was a nice little getaway diversion worth revisiting as the winter weather starts arriving.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios