Rough Night (**)

We've seen this plot carried out several times before and with better results. Not the oddly-specific aspects regarding drunk women accidentally murdering their hired stripper and attempting to dump the body, no. The plot revolving around friends reuniting after several years and realizing that they aren't the same people as when they first met. Throughout the film, they laugh, joke, reminisce, and then begin to fight and work towards a breaking point. In the end, they accept each others differences and all is right with the world. That, and there's still a dead body to manage.

Scarlett Johannson's debut as a leading comedienne goes just about as we would expect. So does the story: 4 or 5 college friends meet up in Miami for Jess's (Johannson) Bachelorette Party. Jess is in the midst of running for State Senator (there's an unexplored side plot regarding her horrible screen presence on the campaign ads), her best friend Alice (Jillian Bell) is stuck in the past, Frankie and Blaire (Zoe Kravitz and Ilana Glazer) are also happy to be there. The group is rounded out by Pippa (Kate McKinnon), an Australian buddy Jess met during grad school.

We have the typical assortment of crude jokes you might expect in an R-rated female comedy. We also meet the weird, off-putting characters that are typically present, including nudist neighbors (Demi Moore and Ty Burrell) who are into group sex, Jess's fiance (Paul Downs) who inexplicably drives cross country to intercept the party when his soon-to-be-wife doesn't return his calls. Logic would say that perhaps her phone died, or that she was drunk. Movie logic informs us that he must buy Red Bull, adult diapers, and speed down the highway overnight to save his marriage (this actually happens). Along the way, he stops at a random truck stop and is elicited for oral sex by more than a couple semi drivers. That's comedy, folks.

I will say that overall the group of women work well together. Johannson aside (who's comedy chops are a subpar addition to a well-polished cast), the jokes mostly land and there are several parts that had me laughing if only for the absurdity of it. McKinnon and Bell are particularly funny here. This is not a movie I would recommend to watch anywhere except a small screen at home that can be easily turned off. For every scene that is funny, there is another 2 scenes that are not. Did I mention that bizarre subplot with the fiance strapping on Depends and speeding through poop, sex, and drug jokes? Why wasn't that whole story written out after draft #1? There's a good comedy buried in this movie somewhere. What we have here feels like a very rough cut. Did you catch that joke?