Aside from the latest version of The Naked Gun, action comedies have suffered a recent dry spell. Many of the latest movies full of flying fists and bullets are painfully stoic, but BenDavid Grabinski’s Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is far from deadly serious. It’s a time traveling romp to save an old friend that manages to be both knowingly funny and staged to wreak havoc. The jabs – both punchlines and punches – land quickly as the movie takes an irreverent approach to the genre.
After a party for the release of Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro), son of head honcho Sosa (Keith David), Mike (James Marsden) sneaks away to a hotel to wait for his work partner’s wife, Alice (Eiza González). Instead, he finds his partner Nick (Vince Vaughn) there with a request to help him pick up someone else. When Mike tries to capture the target, he realizes it’s also Nick. The first Nick comes from the future to help save Mike from an untimely death, and the window to stop his execution at the hands of an ominous villain only known as The Baron is closing.
Grabinski, who also wrote Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, explains just enough of the story’s time travel conceit before jumping straight to wrestling-style fights. Things move quickly in the world of Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice. It’s a simple premise elevated by a sci-fi element that only gets used once but remains a steady source of humour as the trio figures out the rules of time travel. Grabinski isn’t afraid to embrace the goofy elements of the story. There’s cannibal assassin? Sure. Someone accidentally kills the inventor of the time machine and sets his lab on fire so he can never return to his timeline? Why not. Grabinski and cinematographer Larry Fong are well-versed in the art of shooting action that doesn’t devolve into handheld camera chaos, and instead frames the fight scenes as violent yet elegantly choreographed.
The cast is impeccable, and the script feels tailor-made to play to each actor’s strengths. Vaughn is the experienced veteran always ready with a sharp retort, but also a sense of tired sadness over what he knows will happen if they fail. Marsden’s “Quick Draw” Mike is a goodhearted if complicated guy in the wrong line of work, and while he feels conflicted about his job, is still pretty good at it. As Alice, González takes to her first comedic role with ease. She’s quick on the uptake and carries her own share of jokes. But the real romance is the love between Nick and Mike, who share a begrudging brotherly respect despite their tempers and infidelities. Hey, tough guys can be vulnerable and flawed, too.
Embracing the silliness of time travel and contracted hits only boosts the appeal. It’s hilarious and moving, thrilling and suspenseful, a showcase for its talent to shine beyond the trappings of the standard straight-to-streaming action fare.
