PODCAST-NICK & MIKE, NICK & ALICE MOVIE REVIEW

I loved James Marsden’s performance in the TV series Dead to Me. He did an excellent job playing identical twins who had completely different personalities. The series was dark and wickedly funny. It’s worth checking out, if you don’t mind quirky and sometimes shocking material. I also enjoyed Vince Vaughn’s performance in Bad Monkey, a TV series based on Carl Hiassen’s novel. The humor wasn’t quite as sharp as I’d have liked, but I found it entertaining.

When I noticed Marsden and Vaughn were starring together in the new movie Mike & Nick, Nick & Alice, I decided to watch it. Bruce happened to be knee-deep in March Madness so I watched it alone.

The movie starts out with a bang, figuratively and literally. Ben Schwartz, playing a science nerd named Symon, is in his gadget-filled lab dancing and singing to Billy Joel’s song, Why Should I Worry? He’s celebrating having put the final touches on a time machine. Turns out, Symon has plenty of reasons to worry, but so as not to spoil the plot, let’s just leave it at that. Symon’s singing is awful, but his performance is spectacular and he draws me right in. I wish we’d seen more of him in the movie.

The next scene takes place in a cocktail lounge full of gangsters and other shady characters. They’re at a Welcome Home from Prison party for young Jimmy Boy, the boss’s son. After warmly greeting his scary guests, Sosa the mob boss, announces he will find and kill the rat who caused his dear son’s incarceration.

Nick (Vaughn) and Quick Draw Mike (Marsden) are at the party. Nick works for Sosa. Quick Draw Mike works for Nick. Mike is having an affair with Nick’s wife, Alice. Hence, the reason for the long and somewhat clunky, movie title: Nick & Mike, Nick & Alice.

The first half of the movie is great, quirky humor, inside jokes, and interesting time travel conundrums. This movie is dripping in satire; it is a gangster movie making fun of gangster movies. The jokes are nuanced. For example, when a bunch of nefarious bad guys show up at Nick’s house, in a non-ironical way, he offers them Capri Suns to drink. Now I am realizing that my description of this scene does not seem all that funny. I guess you’d have to be there.

I had to stop watching the movie about two-thirds of the way through. I liked the first part so much that I persuaded Bruce to join me, which he did not want to do. To be fair, who likes to start watching a move in the middle? But I wore him down and he agreed.

Unfortunately, the last third of the movie lost its momentum. It felt as if someone else had written it. The screenwriter included a couple surprises, but mostly we watched many slow-motion fights during which combatants smashed couches, shelves, tables, glass objects, and each other’s heads. You’d think the altercations might have increased the narrative tension, but no.

Even though, the movie fell off the tracks for the last half hour or so, I enjoyed the heartwarming ending.

Should you watch it? If you are in the mood for an arthouse film, this is not it. However, James Marsden and Vince Vaughn give high energy performances, and the gangster satire is funny. If you take snack breaks during the fight scenes, this movie could be fun to watch.

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Interested in other movie reviews? Check out:

Hamnet’s Jessie Buckley in: Wicked Little Letters.

Or, Olivia Coleman in: Joyride.

Or, James Marsden in: Dead to Me.

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Mike & Nick Nick & Mike

(Photo by Jen Fariello)Deborah Prum’s fiction has appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Across the Margin, Streetlight and other outlets. Her essays air on NPR member stations and have appeared in The Washington Post, Ladies Home Journal and Southern Living, as well as many other places. Check out her WEBSITE. Check out her DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING SERVICES. Check out her PAINTINGS.

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