Rough Night (2017)

Elevator Pitch: Jess Thayer, who is campaigning to be a senator, is about to be married so her friend Alice arranges for a girls weekend in Miami with two other college friends and one of Jess’s Australian buddies. They arrive at a luxury beachside dwelling and collect the keys from the couple next door, who seem to be more than pleased to see them. They go to clubs, drink shots and snort cocaine then back to the house where one of them has arranged for a male stripper. The man, who appears to be a stripper, calls but his approach to Jess is unwelcome. However, Alice, literally, jumps on him causing him to fall and hit his head and die. They all have reasons not to be associated with such a death, so what to do?

Content: There is a lesbian sex scene without nudity, which is discussed later. There are a number of sex toys about and the women drink a lot and snort coke. When the stripper hits his head on a table there is a lot of blood and thereafter much time is spent as the girls unsuccessfully attempt to dispose of the body, including it being taken out to sea on a jet ski and dumped into the water. On and off there is much banter between them. As a sort of minor plot Jess’s fiancée decides to drive to Miami in case she has changed her mind. He has adventures on the way.

A View: This outing cost about $20 million and the studio spent about $30 million promoting it. It got mixed reviews from the critics but the general public  generally gave it the thumbs down. I generally find comedies where someone is killed a bit off-putting and the sex was a surprise as well, not really in a good way. Despite the starry cast it is probable that its grossing out was misjudged in its attempt to emulate male stag night films. Although I did laugh a couple of times if you want to see a comedy with “Night” in the title try “Date Night” or “Game Night”. 

Additional Info: The script was the subject of a bidding war in 2015.