Apparently they made 'Vacation Friends 2'
Hulu
The performers are no match for the premise in “Vacation Friends 2,” the sequel to a comedy that wasn’t so bad but resulted in absolutely no one begging for the story to continue. Apparently a streaming-only release can somehow spark a follow-up (can’t say I’ve gotten around to “Murder Mystery 2” quite yet), however, and now what started as an aggressive but sufficiently sweet clash of personalities has wandered off into manic and familiar mediocrity.
This time Marcus and Emily (Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji) and Ron and Kylie (John Cena, Meredith Hagner) travel to the Caribbean, where, in one of many exhausting, nonsensical and unfunny plot points, Marcus has several days before a high-stakes presentation that could earn him a big construction job with Mrs. Kim (Julee Cerda) and a group referred to several times as simply “the Koreans.” Naturally Marcus is concerned about Ron and Kylie, who HE INVITED ON THE TRIP and remain wild cards despite now having a child in tow, blowing the opportunity before it starts, and of course Ron (not so much Kylie; the men have so much more to do here than the women) turns out to be an asset rather than a liability.
Rarely, though, does “Vacation Friends 2” benefit from the contrast of anxious Marcus and unpredictable Ron the way the first film did, especially after Kylie’s previously incarcerated father (Steve Buscemi) turns up and becomes the first-ever person to dislike Ron, with the feeling, again for the first time, being mutual. Shenanigans with drug dealers feel like copies of any number of forgettable Kevin Hart efforts or “We’re the Millers” or whatever, and it’s rare for a set piece (drinking contest, surfing accident, blah blah blah) to elicit anything better than a groan and a glance at the clock.
Flying solo after directing and co-writing the original, Clay Tarver still struggles with pacing and repeatedly fails to visually connect the dots, ensuring that poor jokes also arrive with poor timing. Generally “Vacation Friends 2” is on the innocent side of lousy, and a line here and a Cena delivery there just barely nudge your finger away from whatever button you’d use to turn on something else. Or just the power button, as watching nothing isn’t less entertaining than a comedy running on fumes.
D+
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