Directed by Lucia Aniello and written by Aniello and Paul W. Downs, Rough Night is the story of a bachelorette party gone horrible wrong when a male stripper is accidentally killed leading to all sorts of mayhem for the five women trying to figure out what to do. The film is a comedy where five female friends celebrate the upcoming nuptials of one of their own where it all goes wrong during a crazy night in Miami. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Jillian Bell, Kate McKinnon, Zoe Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, Paul W. Downs, Ryan Cooper, Colton Haynes, Ty Burrell, and Demi Moore. Rough Night is a witty though flawed film from Lucia Aniello.
The film follows a bachelorette weekend in Miami where the celebration goes wrong due to the accidental killing of a male stripper as the five women in the party try to figure out what to do to the body and hilarity ensues during the course of the night. It’s a film with a simple premise that play into five ladies wanting to hang out and party in Miami where they panic over an accident and make things worse along the way. The film’s screenplay by Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs does explore the relationship between the women as the bride-to-be in Jess (Scarlett Johansson) is reluctant about having a bachelorette weekend as she is dealing with a campaign for senator as she has a hard time connecting with voters. Her best friend Alice (Jillian Bell) is organizing the bachelorette party as it would include their college friends in Frankie (Ilana Glazer) and Blair (Zoe Kravitz) plus a friend of Jess in Pippa (Kate McKinnon) whom Jess met during a semester in Australia.
While the script tries to juggle so much backstory of the characters as well as a subplot of Jess’ fiancé Peter (Paul W. Downs) driving to Miami high on pills after hearing Jess panic over what happened. It’s a moment that does feel forced despite a few funny moments as much of the story focuses on the women trying to figure out what to do the body of this stripper (Ryan Cooper) as well as the relationship between these women as Frankie and Blair used to be a couple while there’s some tension from Alice towards Pippa as the former is trying to get Jess’ attention as it play into her clinginess. Even as Pippa is just this outsider new to the group who would try to come up with ideas while dealing with jet lag.
Aniello’s direction is largely straightforward in terms of the compositions as it doesn’t really go for anything stylistic in the visuals rather than emphasize on the humor. Shot largely in Saddle Rock and Mount Vernon in the state of New York with some additional locations in Miami, Florida. Aniello would open the film with Jess, Alice, Frankie, and Blair at a frat party where they like to hang out with each other just to establish their friendship and then move the film 10 years later where Alice is a teacher, Frankie is an activist with two strikes on her, and Blair is a real-estates agent dealing with a divorce and a custody battle. Aniello’s approach to the humor is to build things up as well as play up into the conversations and antics of the characters which would lead to something big. Even as it involves Pippa who would put herself in dangerous situations for comical reasons where it works while there’s some parts as it relates to Peter as he’s trying to reach Jess by driving to Miami does lag a bit despite a few funny moments. Yet, the film’s climax which relates to not just the stripper’s identity but also some of the drama that goes on with the women who come to terms that their lives aren’t so great and that they’re growing up. All the reason for them to be together no matter how bad things are. Overall, Aniello crafts an entertaining though messy film about a bachelorette party gone wrong.
Cinematographer Sean Porter does excellent work with the film’s cinematography as it is colorful with much of the action taking place at night to play into the Miami nightlight and scenes at the beach. Editor Craig Alpert does nice work with the editing with its stylish approaches to montages and some rhythmic cut to play into the humor. Art director Ryan Heck and set decorator Carol Silverman do fantastic work with the look of the house Jess is loaned for the weekend as well as the home she lives in with Peter. Costume designer Leah Katznelson does terrific work with the costumes as it is largely casual with the stylized clothes the women wear during the bachelorette festivities.
Visual effects supervisor Karl Coyner does some fine work with the visual effects as it’s mainly set-dressing for a few scenes including Peter’s drive to Miami. Sound editor Kami Asgar does superb work with the sound in the way music sounds on location as well as the sound of the waves in the ocean. The film’s music by Dominic Lewis is wonderful for its low-key score that is playful with its usage of electronics and orchestral music for the suspense and drama with much of the film’s soundtrack featuring a mix of pop, hip-hop, EDM, and rock from acts like Wolfmother, Marilyn Manson, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Skrillex, Cliff Martinez, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, J-Kwon, Khia, Neon Jungle, Divinyls, and Kate McKinnon singing a hilarious song during the credits.
The casting by Rori Bergman and Jeanne McCarthy is brilliant as it feature some notable small roles from Peter Francis Jack as Blair’s attorney uncle, Karan Soni as Jess’ assistant in her campaign, the quartet of Bo Burnham, Eric Andre, Hasan Minhaj, and Patrick Carlyle as Peter’s friends for their own bachelor party, Dean Winters and Enrique Murciano as a couple of detectives, Devin Ratray as a truck driver Peter meets on his way to Miami, Colton Haynes as a police officers who appears in the film’s second act, and Ryan Cooper as the male stripper who is accidentally killed. Ty Burrell and Demi Moore are fantastic in their respective roles as the couple Pietro and Lea as the neighbors who want to engage into a sexual fantasy with Blair that would become overwhelming for her. Paul W. Downs is alright as Jess’ fiancé Peter as a man who becomes fearful that he’s not good enough for Jess forcing him to drive to Miami while wearing adult diapers, drinking Red Bull, taking outdated prescription medicines, and later doing meth as it’s a mixed-bag of a performance where it’s funny but also forceful at times.
Ilana Glazer is excellent as Frankie as an activist who is trying to deal with the situation as she is aware that she has two strikes on her while dealing with her own feelings for Blair. Zoe Kravitz is brilliant as Blair as a real estate agent dealing with a divorce and custody battle who finds herself being the object of desire for the neighbors as she also is dealing with her own feelings for Frankie. Jillian Bell is amazing as Alice as Jess’ best friend from college who is the most excited about the bachelorette party while doing things that are funny to express her character’s loneliness and lack of excitement in her life. Kate McKinnon is incredible as Pippa as Jess’ Australian friend who is the funniest character in the film for providing some physical comedy as well as some witty commentary on the situations. Finally, there’s Scarlett Johansson in a remarkable performance as Jessica “Jess” Thayer as the bride who is dealing with a senatorial campaign and getting married as she deals with the chaos of an accidental murder where she provides some funny moments as well as being the reliable straight woman.
Rough Night is a stellar though flawed film from Lucia Aniello. Despite its messy script and tonal issues in the film, the film does feature an excellent cast and some funny moments that do provide enough moments that is entertaining with characters that are engaging. In the end, Rough Night is a very good film from Lucia Aniello.
© thevoid99 2018
Based on the 1984 film written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis and directed by Ivan Reitman, Ghostbusters is the story of two scientists, a gadgets inventor, and a MTA worker who discover strange paranormal events around New York City as they stop them from wreaking havoc all over the city. Directed by Paul Feig and screenplay by Feig and Katie Dippold, the film is a remake of sorts of the 1984 film where it’s women taking charge in trying to stop ghosts from being unleashed in New York City. Starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Andy Garcia, Cecily Strong, Neil Casey, Michael K. Williams, Charles Dance, Ed Begley Jr., Matt Walsh, and Chris Hemsworth as Kevin. Ghostbusters is a dazzling and adventurous film from Paul Feig.
The film is a simple story about the formation of a group of women who come together after some encounters with ghosts where they decide to stop them. That is pretty much the plot as it follows the same idea of the 1984 film but the film’s screenplay by Paul Feig and Katie Dippold focuses a lot more on the bond of four women trying to reveal what could be true despite the fact that they live in a world that is a bit more cynical as well as not wanting to believe that there is such things as ghosts. For the four women who would form their own team called Ghostbusters, they have to overcome many obstacles but also themselves as two of the women in physicists Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) and Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) both wrote a book about the existence of ghosts where they were seen as jokes leading to a falling out between the two as the latter would disown the book as she feels it would threaten her tenure bid at Columbia University.
Yet, Gilbert’s past over the book would return due to these recent events as she reluctantly reunites with Yates and Yates’ colleague in inventor/engineer Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) where they would make a major discovery that led to Gilbert teaming with the two to create something to study and stop ghosts. When a MTA worker named Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) reaches out to the three about her sighting of a ghost as well as seeing a mysterious man named Rowan (Neil Casey) doing something odd at the subway station. Patty, whose knowledge of the city, would round out the team as they would also be joined by handsome but dim-witted secretary named Kevin. Still, the Ghostbusters have to keep their work under wraps for the mayor (Andy Garcia) who doesn’t want these stories about ghosts publicized feeling it would threaten his image.
Feig’s direction is definitely stylish in terms of the vastness of the film as it is shot in not just New York City but also parts of areas in and around Boston. While there are some wide shots of the locations, Feig would keep things simple with the compositions as well as create something that is quite loose in its approach to humor. Still, it is about the story and the women needing to prove that there ghosts lurking around in New York City as Feig doesn’t allow the visual effects or some of the offbeat humor to detract from that. Another thing about the film that succeeds is Feig taking his time for the characters to develop as well as developing their gadgets while having the time to goof off and have fun. Even as Feig makes no qualms in putting in references relating to the original 1984 for fun as it would also include a few famous characters from that film. The moments involving the ghosts and capturing them are definitely spectacular in a visual sense where it does have this nice mix of humor and horror that would culminate in this enthralling climax that features large ghosts and Times Square be re-envisioned as it was back in the 1970s/1980s. Overall, Feig creates an exhilarating and fun film about a group of ladies kicking some major ass on some evil ghosts.
Cinematographer Robert Yeomen does excellent work with the film‘s colorful cinematography from the look of the daytime exteriors and some of its interiors to the scenes at night including the rock club and for the film‘s climax at Times Square. Editors Melissa Bretherton and Brent White do terrific work with the editing as it is quite straightforward with some rhythmic cuts to play into the action without deviating too much into conventional speed-cuts that is often prominent of action films. Production designer Jefferson Sage, with supervising art director Bret Frutiger and set decorators Dennis Colvin and Leslie A. Pope, does fantastic work with the look of the home base that the team live in above a Chinese restaurant as well as the look of the hotel where the character Rowan works at. Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland does nice work with the costumes from the design of the jumpsuits the women wear as well as the casual clothes that represent their personalities.
Visual effects supervisors Anthony Dunifer and Peter G. Travers do amazing work with the design of the ghosts as well as some of moments in the ghost battles as well as the film‘s lavish climax. Sound designer Tom Lamberti, along with sound editors Andrew DeCristofaro and Becky Sullivan, does superb work with the sound to play into the sound effects of the noises the ghosts make as well as the sounds of the gadgets and other moments in the film. Music composer Theodore Shapiro does wonderful work with the score with its mixture of orchestral music and electronics that include variations of the original theme song while music supervisor Erica Weis provides a fun soundtrack that features some old-school music from DeBarge and DMX and more contemporary music from Elle King, Mark Ronson with Passion Pit and A$AP Ferg, Zayn Malik, 5 Seconds of Summer, and a bad remake of the original song by Fall Out Boy with Missy Elliott.
The casting by Allison Jones is great as it feature some notable small roles from co-writer Katie Dippold as a rental agent, Zach Woods as a tour guide who would first see a ghost in the film’s opening scene, Steve Higgins as a technical college dean Yates and Holtzmann work for, Ed Begley Jr. as a man who comes to Gilbert about a ghost in his tour house, Charles Dance as Gilbert’s boss at Columbia, Matt Walsh and Michael K. Williams as Homeland Security agents, Cecily Strong as the mayor’s assistant who tries to clean up all of the things publicly, and Andy Garcia as Mayor Bradley as New York City’s mayor who tries to not get the public be aware of the ghosts that are haunting New York City. Neil Casey is superb as Rowan as a mysterious man who has been releasing devices to unleash ghosts all over the city to express his disdain for humanity. Chris Hemsworth is excellent as Kevin as this dim-witted yet hunky secretary that isn’t very good at his job but Gilbert likes him a lot as he is just fun to watch in every scene he’s in while not being afraid of being the object of affection.
Leslie Jones is amazing as Patty Tolan as a MTA worker who joins the group in capturing ghosts as her knowledge on New York City makes her a joy to watch as well as some of the funny comments she brings. Kate McKinnon is brilliant as Jillian Holtzmann as the team’s gadgets inventor who has a very funny sense of humor as well as be very lively and odd in a fun way. Melissa McCarthy is fantastic as Abby Yates as a physicist who has never stopped believing in ghosts where she brings a nice approach to the physical comedy and in her mannerisms. Finally, there’s Kristen Wiig in a marvelous performance as Erin Gilbert as a college professor who reluctantly returns to the world of the paranormal as she is the straight person of the film that tries to deal with what she is seeing as she also brings in the laughs.
Ghostbusters is a remarkable film from Paul Feig. Featuring a great cast, incredible visual effects, and an accessible story that is just to fun to invest to. It’s a film that isn’t just a fun homage to the 1984 film but also a film that manages to be its own. In the end, Ghostbusters is a sensational film from Paul Feig.
Paul Feig Films: (I Am David) - (Unaccompanied Minors) - (Bridesmaids) - (The Heat) - Spy (2015 film) - (A Simple Favor) - (Last Christmas) - (The School for Good and Evil)
Related: (Ghostbusters) - (Ghostbusters II) - Ghostbusters: Afterlife
© thevoid99 2017
