‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’ Review: Double the Vince Vaughn, Double the Fun in a Time-Travel Comedy Made to Be Streamed

The jokes fly faster than the bullets in BenDavid Grabinski’s sci-fi action-comedy, starring James Marsden, Eiza González, and two Vince Vaughns.

Every movie has its context. Some are best experienced on a big screen with a crowd, while others are meant to be watched while lying on the couch on a Saturday afternoon. The latter might sound like an insult, but it’s really not; the ubiquity of basic cable has helped many films along the path to millennial cult status. And although the streaming options are far more numerous, with any luck, a similar fate awaits “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” when it premieres on Hulu. 

Speaking of millennials, BenDavid Grabinski’s second feature as a writer/director taps into a vein of late-period generational nostalgia that recalls the recent “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.” It’s less reflective than Matt Johnson’s film, but it’s working from a similar set of cultural touchstones: “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” opens with Ben Schwartz singing along to Billy Joel’s “Why Should I Worry?” on cassette, giving the impression that the film takes place in the ’80s. It’s not really clear that it doesn’t, in fact, until a character pulls out a smartphone several scenes later. Multiple sequences are bathed in bright neon, and although the jukebox soundtrack is all over the place, decade-wise, every song is a sing-along favorite for the thirty-to-forty-something set. 

The film’s music clearance budget must have been massive: One stretch features “Bella Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus, The Chemical Brothers’ “Block Rockin’ Beats,” and Papa Roach’s “Last Resort,” all within the span of about 10 minutes. There’s an “Alf” joke, a “Ghost” reference, and an extended conversation about “Gilmore Girls” filmed in the 360-degree style made popular by Quentin Tarantino movies. Grabinski’s writing style is goofy and (obviously) reference-heavy, and the jokes spray indiscriminately like so many bullets from an automatic weapon. The constant wisecracks get tiresome after a while, but not before introducing some clever gags and quotable quips. 

One particularly amusing bit involves the nicknames given to the interchangeable gangsters clad in loud silk shirts who populate the film’s party scenes: Arturo Castro is very funny in a small role as “Dumbass Tony,” while “Willie Whippets” and “Bob the Tomato” sadly remain offscreen. Even the titular Mike (James Marsden) has a sobriquet: He’s “Quick-Draw Mike,” a gunman who’s tired of “the life” and hoping to settle down with Alice (Elsa González), one of a handful of characters in the film who doesn’t have a nickname. Neither does Alice’s husband (and Mike’s boss) Nick (Vince Vaughn), at least not at first; by the time the plot really starts cooking, however, he needs to be divided into “Present Nick” and “Future Nick.” 

This is a time-travel movie, crossed with a slick action-comedy and dotted with romance: Mike and Alice’s affair is central to the plot, motivating future Nick to travel back in time to the night he framed Mike as the informant who put his boss’ son Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro, doing his best Mark Wahlberg impression) in prison. Future Nick says that he regretted the betrayal immediately, especially when he found out that Alice was pregnant with Mike’s baby. And so Nick recruits Mike to save his own life and escape from big boss Sosa (Keith David), with help from Alice and his other self. 

Vaughn plays both Nicks similarly, using both old-fashioned editing tricks and the occasional VFX-compositing shot. Different outfits help distinguish the two, and although both are smart-aleck playboys, Future Nick is the more mature and considerate of the two. Future Nick’s selflessness in saving his wife’s boyfriend so they can raise their child together is inconsistent with the character’s selfish present incarnation. That, however, gets hand-waved away with a line about how both Nicks are “too dumb” to learn anything except through making mistakes. 

None of this is particularly deep: Think about the mechanics of the time-travel plot for more than a few seconds, for example, and the whole thing crumbles into incoherence. That’s fine, though. Although the action is professionally executed and impressively bloody, “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” is primarily a joke-dispensing apparatus, full of cameos (Stephen Root makes an appearance, as does an ‘80s favorite we won’t spoil here) and featuring perhaps the silliest needle drop ever deployed for a strip club scene. 

Grabinski knows his audience, and nothing demonstrates this better than his treatment of the film’s feline co-star, Kingpin the cat. (Kingpin was played by two cats, Fonzie and Ferris, who are prominently billed in the credits.) Kingpin lives in the “love shack” Nick keeps to entertain his many paramours — Alice is more hurt about the secret cat than the affairs, which says a lot about their relationship — also the location for one of the film’s many action scenes. As the bullets start flying, Grabinski inserts a shot of Nick protecting his pet, so the audience doesn’t worry about him; he also ensures that Kingpin is safely handed off to a minor character played by “Schitt’s Creek” star Emily Hampshire before the “John Wick”-esque finale. 

Being an obsessive “pet parent” is a stereotype of the “doggo” generation, who are also the age group most likely to enjoy this film. By saving the cat, Grabinski ensures his intended audience’s continued goodwill. Of course, “saving the cat” is also a screenwriting trope, which means that Kingpin may also be a winking in-joke for the writers in the audience. It’s possible: Grabinski has faith in his audience’s ability to keep up. That being said, this is still a streaming movie, which means that missing a few details doesn’t matter — after all, this movie is best watched in pajamas, perhaps with a container of takeout on your lap.

Grade: B-

“Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” premiered at SXSW. It streams on Hulu on March 27.

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