Everything you’re going to hear about the latest Scarlett Johansson film Rough Night is going to compare it to the ultimate men’s bachelor party film, The Hangover. Rough Night is not The Hangover, and that’s the best news, because the film delivers a female buddy film in the best way possible — through humor and a great story.
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While The Hangover delivers major hijinks during a bachelor party weekend, Rough Night manages to take a night of over-the-top drama and give it way more heart. While most bachelorette weekends won’t take such a crazy turn, it is a more realistic portrayal of female friendships.
Here’s why Rough Night needs to be on your summer must-watch movie list and every reason why you don’t have to worry that it’s another version of The Hangover.
It’s Weekend at Bernie’s meets Big Little Lies
That’s a pretty broad description of what happens in the film, and without giving away too many spoilers, there is a dead stripper involved. What they do with that body is pretty darn creative and makes Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman’s shenanigans look pretty amateur in comparison.
Yet things aren’t always what they seem, which gives the added twist that Big Little Lies delivered in its first — and hopefully not only — season. To give even more street cred to the BLL comparison, Zoë Kravitz is also part of the girl squad in Rough Night. She delivers a performance that is completely different from her HBO character, and it makes you realize Kravitz is here for the long haul in Hollywood.
Demi Moore
Need I say more? Demi Moore doesn't just look good, her deft handling of comedy in scenes as a passionate and lustful swinger with her husband Pietro, played by Ty Burrell, leave you wishing for more Moore in every film.
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Female friendships
Let’s be honest. We know our female friendships go through more ups and downs than male friendships. As women, we often have a more emotional connection with our female friends. Even in the bad times, our relationships tend to run deeper because we learn so much from our experiences of womanhood.
That’s exactly what Rough Night delivers — the dynamics of five women who all represent something different, but equally important to each other. The childhood friend trying to keep her place in life with the bride-to-be, the college friends who represent four short but significant years in a woman’s life and the deep friendship you make as an adult that sometimes has stronger roots than the childhood friend.
As complicated as it may seem, you still need all of these women in your life.
Kate McKinnon
Kate McKinnon is a national treasure. Anything she touches is comedy gold. She does so without being too much because subtly is her specialty — McKinnon gives us moments of humor that we didn’t see coming.
I don’t know what we did to deserve such an amazing comedian, but I am glad to call her one of our own. Her take on an Australian BFF coming to the U.S. to celebrate her friend’s bachelorette party is pure genius. She's truly Rough Night's MVP.
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Female-driven film
Lucia Aniello not only wrote the film with Paul W. Downs, she directed the film. The conversation of women in film, particularly behind the lens, is important because inclusion for our gender in Hollywood has been a long time coming.
This is Aniello’s first big outing as a director, and it deserves to be a hit at the box office. It’s a smart female-driven film that’s not a Hangover knockoff. It’s a movie we’ve all been waiting for, and it’s the perfect time for this film to make its mark.