Raunchy comedy a bit Rough around the edges

Rough Night
Directed: Lucia Aniello
Stars:  Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoë Kravitz
Rating: ★★★½

FILM REVIEW
By MATILDA BOSELEY

Rough Night is good, but is it Bridesmaids good?

Every time a female-lead comedy is released it holds on its back a certain acute pressure. They aren’t just films; each is a piece of evidence submitted in the trial to decide “Are women funny?”

But now it doesn’t just have to be good. No, that’s not enough anymore. It has to be Bridesmaids good. If you can’t compete with Kristen Wiig's 2011 masterpiece, then you need get out and make room.

Female empowerment, talented comedians, a bunch of cocaine and a dead stripper. Rough Night has all the trappings of a film that could turn this trial around. But somehow it falls short.

Let's not get the wrong idea – this is a solid film. It’s funny, it's fun, it's perfect for a night in with your old friends and a few bottles of wine. But it’s not Bridesmaids good, and in a world that so rarely gives female films a chance, that may be the only way it is judged.

Jess (Scarlett Johansson) is an aspiring state senator whose bachelorette weekend comes along just as she is losing her campaign.

Joined by four of her best college friends, the girls embark on a wild weekend in Miami, full of bad behaviour and heavy drug use – eventually resulting in the accidental killing of a male stripper and a scrabble to dispose of the body.

However, this simple premise gets bogged down in plot twist after plot twist, each more crazy than the last. It hardly leaves enough air to show the comedic genius of the actresses.

The strongest moments of the film are the riffs and tangents the women get into, but there aren't enough and they all too often cut short with warnings of “can we get back to the dead body in the closet” or “can this conversation wait, we have to hide this dead body”.

This film is meant to be empowering, showing that women can behave just as badly as men, and there is certainly something to be said for this. It was refreshing to see female characters being given permission to be crude and ridiculous. Unfortunately, the characters border on two-dimensional.

You have a workaholic (Johansson), an activist (Ilana Glazer) a business lady (Zoë Kravitz) and a charming foreigner (Kate McKinnon) but nothing much deeper than that. With the exception of Alice (Jillian Bell) – whose need to hold onto the past, connecting to her mothers Alzheimer’s, lifted this movie and delivered authentic and much-needed heart.

For a film based on the premise of female friendship it’s really hard to believe any of these characters would be friends in real life.

But while the film faltered in character construction, it made up for it in talent. McKinnon steals the show and her fake Aussie accent was very nearly not terrible. Glazer, co-creator of the infamously hilarious Broad City, rescued her poorly written lines with impeccable physical comedy and timing.

Kravitz was surprisingly funny and endearing and Bell is a must for any future comedic ensemble casting. Johansson, despite being the protagonist, was unfortunately lost in this line up, overshadowed by far more interesting and relatable talent.

The film has some serious flaws but ultimately it delivered what it promised: a scandalous comedy about women getting together and getting into trouble.

No, it’s not as good as Bridesmaids, but ultimately it shouldn’t have to be. Can we, at least for the moment, let this trial be adjourned?