Review by C.J. Bunce
Equal to the rest of the cast and the fun plot of the Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, now streaming on Hulu via Disney+, is seeing Keith David in yet another great role. This time he plays a mobster named Sosa, whose son Jimmy Boy, played by Jimmy Tatro, is home from his stint in jail. While Sosa throws a party for his son, he makes it clear he’s well aware of the snitch who informed on his son, and he’s ready to send a hitman to take him–or her–out. Enter Nick and Alice, played by Vince Vaughn and Eiza González. They are a couple who have drifted apart, with Nick as one of Sosa’s goons. They’ve drifted far enough apart that Alice is now seeing Mike, a triggerman working for Sosa, behind Nick’s back. Mike is played by James Marsden. Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is the story of what Nick does after he fingers Mike as the rat and kills him. And it takes what could be a simple crime story into the kind of great genre mash-up that makes the movie a whole lotta fun. What that genre blend ends up being is a surprise and part of the fun. So you might want to just watch the movie before reading on.
First we’re talking about a crime movie. It stars Vaughn as that darker, more serious character he’s done before. His Nick has a plan to kill Mike, presumably for revenge against his wife. But it turns out Mike has a conscience, which he doesn’t discover until after he kills Mike and feeds him to a cannibal hitman. Lucky for everyone, Alice has an old friend who is a scientist. That’s Parks & Recreation’s Ben Schwartz as Symon. He’s brilliant at understanding quantum mechanics, but not so great at paying off a loan to loan sharks. When Nick comes to collect he finds himself in Symon’s time machine. Pow! Nick can now repair some of the damage he caused, and maybe repair his guilty conscience. Unfortunately he’s killed Symon, too.
That means Vince Vaughn has a double role–as suggested by the movie title–he plays Nick in the present and Nick who has already experienced one version of the future. Even only a few weeks older, Future Nick is nicer, willing to let bygones be bygones. But Present Nick is still a shmuck. Vaughn’s dual role is the best I’ve seen in years. Vaughn just has that boyish charm that he can quickly flip to the eyebrow-raised bad guy in a flash. To the extent the movie is a comedy, in addition to crime drama, action flick, and science fiction movie, means he probably will never be considered for awards. But the audience is going to love it.
Eiza González, who we most recently loved in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (reviewed here) and Ambulance (reviewed here) is soon starring in In the Grey. She is great at every role she takes on, flirtacious and sexy, or smart and tough. As a leading action movie star, she’s the next Charlize Theron. James Marsden gets to show off the most range as Mike. Just like the rest of the top cast of talented actors, Marsden has been showcased in some great content lately, including Paradise (reviewed here). What can’t this guy do? In this role writer-director BenDavid Grabinski makes him a slightly daft action hero, complete with great action choreography that is actually undersold by Grabinski.
It doesn’t stop there. Stephen Root plays a surprise character. Dolph Lundgren plays a surprise character. Emily Hampshire plays Nick’s ex. And there ‘s even a great cat named Kingpin (played by Fozzie).
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is a fantastic, all-purpose action movie–a great date movie, a great dinner-and-a-movie movie. It’s fun and funny, showcasing some of Hollywood’s best loved actors. One of the recurring comedy bits is the poor communication between generations–between Nick and Mike and between Sosa and son Jimmy and between Nick and a gas station clerk (played by Dylan Playfair). Their ages mean their very language keeps them from truly understanding each other. It’s a great mirror of people and relationships today. Destined to be one of the year’s top crowd-pleasers Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is now streaming on Hulu via Disney+.
