Write a commentA really close friend of mine hates Back to the Future. Before anyone says anything, yes, I'm just as surprised as you are that we're still friends.
For the sake of her anonymity and general safety, we'll call her Jennifer. I've known Jennifer for about 25 years. The two of us don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but we tend to argue and then move on. The one thing that we've never quite moved on from is her take on Back to the Future.
When this was first brought up to me, I thought she was joking. Back to the Future is one of the most beloved films of all time. It has everything you'd want from a movie and executes it all perfectly. It is a prime example of a classic blockbuster.
When I've tried to explain it to her, she shuts me down, repeating that she just doesn't understand it and doesn't want to talk about it. I think we all have those kinds of things. Things that frustrate us to even talk about. It doesn't come from a lack of intelligence or patience. It's just our brain sorta breaks when we think about it. For instance, I love the movie Knives Out but when Blanc is explaining how everything happened, my brain just goes into survival mode. You ever see a goat when it's threatened? It just kinda falls to the side. That's my brain.
For Jennifer, it's time travel. For just about twenty-five years, she's been saying the same thing: "It doesn't make any sense." Back to the Future and the sequels become more convoluted as they go on. Back to the Future Part II is especially convoluted but it's also extremely fun. That's the hurdle that most time travel movies have. They have to make some sense for the plot.
The smartest thing that Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice does is not dwell on the time travel aspect. It presents it as matter-of-fact and that's about it. In the film, Mike (Marsden) works for an outfit run by Sosa (David). Sosa's son, Jimmy Boy (Tatro) is celebrating getting out of jail and having a full evening of partying. Mike steps away to meet up with Alice (Gonzalez), but is called away by his friend Nick (Vaughn) to help with a "situation". The situation being the Nick Mike was contacted by is from the future and Future Nick needs help kidnapping Present Nick.
It all sounds like a pretty fun set-up. For the most part, it is. The main issue is that much of it is hamfisted in its delivery. Much of the comedy is derived from characters looking at each other shocked. This works maybe a couple of times, but after a while, it falls flat. There are many action comedies out there that succeed at being both exciting and funny, but this one doesn't really accomplish either very successfully.
The biggest issue the movie has is assuming anyone finds Jimmy Tatro funny. Tatro has been lingering around Hollywood for over a decade at this point after his moderate success on the Vine app. Some of his stuff was funny, but the "I'm an enormous moron" schtick wears thin. In this film, he leans into that persona a bit much. The screenplay doesn't do him any favors either as the biggest moment of character development that Jimmy Boy has is that he seems to have erectile dysfunction.
For the most part, the scenes between Vaughn, Marsden, Gonzalez and, well, Vaughn work. That's the main plot and pretty much the only thing you should care about. As if the filmmaker is doing Tatro a solid by having a larger role for him, the film keeps cutting back to his increasingly ridiculous parties. There's nothing of note here. Jimmy Boy is never seen as a direct threat to the protagonists so all the scenes with him are just uninteresting. What's probably worse is it distracts from the better parts of the film.
I've always been a fan of Vince Vaughn. Like many others in Hollywood, he's done a lot of work that may not be the best, but he's often the best part of anything he's in. Here, he's able to play two versions of the same character with ease. Unlike Sinners where Michael B. Jordan played two completely different people, Vaughn's versions of Nick are basically pre and post-epiphany. Vaughn is able to convey so much emotion with just his eyes. Later in the film, there's a scene that snuck up on me and made me quite emotional. This was all because of Vaughn.
It's really a shame that the rest of the movie isn't as good as that scene. Marsden is reliably good as the straight man in the situation as is Gonzalez as the love interest. Many of the side characters don't get enough screen time to make an impact. For Sosa being such a threat, he isn't really seen doing much. To me, it would have made more sense to give more of Jimmy Boy's screentime to Sosa. Keith David could read the dictionary with more gravitas than anything Tatro foolishly attempts.
If there's anything to glean from this, it moves pretty fast and isn't completely horrendous. Much of it is passable and the main three actors (and four characters) are fun to watch play off one another. It's just too bad that all the fun generated between the leads is siphoned by pointless subplots and toothless villains.
The best thing I can say is if you want a good action comedy, watch the original Beverly Hills Cop. If you want to watch a movie where Vince Vaughn stretches his range, find Freaky from a few years ago. And if you want a good time travel movie, just watch Back to the Future.
Unless you're Jennifer.
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice (2026)
Directed by BenDavid Grabinski
Cast: Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza Gonzalez, Keith David, Jimmy Tatro, Stephen Root, Lewis Tan, Ben Schwartz
Runtime: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R (for strong/bloody violence, pervasive language, sexual material and drug use)
Rating (out of ****): **
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is currently streaming on Hulu with a subscription.
