Vacation Friends 2 might not be as wild and crazy as the first one, but it is still a whole lot of fun. Steve Buscemi is a welcome addition to the cast!
This first Vacation Friends made for a great summer comedy. When a sequel was announced, expectations were high. They were met, but not exceeded. While Vacation Friends 2 is definitely a lot of fun, it doesn’t get as wild and crazy as the first one, which is a bit of a downfall. That being said, it is great to see these friends back together and on yet another adventure. Vacation Friends 2 is funny, entertaining, and Steve Buscemi is a very welcome (and hilarious) addition to the cast.
Note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Vacation Friends 2 would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.
This time around Kyla, Ron, Marcus, and Emily go to the Caribbean. This is Marcus’ treat so that Kyla and Ron can have a real honeymoon. They bring their baby with them, and hotel manager Maurillio comes along for the ride as a babysitter.
While they really are there to have fun, Marcus has a professional reason for the trip — one that he is too nervous to share with his friends. At the same time, he and Emily are trying for a baby. As if things couldn’t get any more crazy, Reese, Kyla’s father, shows up unannounced after his release from prison.
John Cena is one of the best parts of Vacation Friends 2, especially when it comes to his relationship with his father-in-law. He offers the majority of the comedy and jokes this time around. Unfortunately, while they have their own storyline throughout the movie, Lil Rel Howery and Yvonne Orji feel a little bit pushed to the side.
Don’t get me wrong, they have their time and their moments, but it just isn’t as funny, wild, or crazy as the first time around. They are featured, but the focus really is put on John Cena, Meredith Hagner, and Steve Buscemi.
On top of that, Ronny Chieng, who plays Yeon, the Vice President of the hotel company that Marcus is hoping to work with, steals a lot of the thunder as well. He is fantastic in this movie, especially the longer it goes on. His personality changes as he opens up to Marcus and his friends, in particular to Ron. Once again, it feels like even in his story line, Marcus is pushed to the side a little bit.
Vacation Friends 2 is the perfect length, clocking in at just over ninety minutes. It battles some issues with predictability, but thanks to the fast paced nature of a comedy adventure movie like this, that doesn’t hold it up.
Overall Thoughts
Vacation Friends 2 is funny and entertaining. While it is not as good as the first film, it manages to bring some wild and crazy situations into the mix. It is great to see these friends come together again for a vacation in the Caribbean, and the addition of Steve Buscemi’s character is a brilliant one.
He keeps things interesting with his own problems. The father-in-law / son-in-law relationship with John Cena is the best part of the movie, and the most entertaining. With this storyline being such a major part of the film, however, it feels as if some of the main characters, Marcus and Emily, and pushed to the background more than they should be.
Still, Vacation Friends 2 is likely to deliver exactly what you expect from it — a fun movie to watch with your friends. It is streaming now on Hulu.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
NEXT: Bottoms Review: Hilarious Comedy Is Unafraid To Cross A Line
About Vacation Friends 2
Picking up a few months after the end of “Vacation Friends,” this hilarious sequel finds newly married couple Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) and Emily (Yvonne Orji) inviting their uninhibited besties Ron (John Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner), who are also newly married and have a baby, to join them for a vacation when Marcus lands an all-expenses-paid trip to a Caribbean resort.
His reason for traveling there in the first place is to meet with the owners of the resort to bid on a construction contract for a hotel they own in Chicago. But when Kyla’s incarcerated father Reese (Steve Buscemi) is released from San Quentin and shows up at the resort unannounced at the worst possible moment, things get out of control, upending Marcus’ best laid plans and turning the vacation friends’ perfect trip into total chaos.
Vacation Friends 2 is now streaming on Hulu.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. On Camera personality and TV / Film Critic with 10+ years of experience in video editing, writing, editing, moderating, and hosting.
1 Comment
Pingback: John Cena's Vacation Friends 2 Gets Pummeled by Critics at Rotten Tomatoes -