Vacation Friends 2 review by Bobby Blakey
In 2021 John Cena and Lil Rel Howery teamed up for the crazy comedy Vacation Friends on Hulu. Clearly the film did well enough for the streaming service to warrant a sequel because the gang is back for Vacation Friends 2 co-starring Yvonne Orji, Meredith Hagner, Carlos Antos, Ronny Chieng and Steve Buscemi with Vacation Friends director Clay Tarver returning to the directors chair. Can this next trip bring more laughs or should they have missed their flight?
Vacation Friends 2 follows newly married couple Marcus and Emily inviting their uninhibited besties Ron and Kyla, who are also newly married and have a baby, to join them for a vacation when Marcus lands an all-expenses-paid trip to a Caribbean resort. His reason for traveling there in the first place is to meet with the owners of the resort to bid on a construction contract for a hotel they own in Chicago. But when Kyla’s incarcerated father Reese is released from San Quentin and shows up at the resort unannounced at the worst possible moment, things get out of control, upending Marcus’ best laid plans and turning the vacation friends’ perfect trip into total chaos.
The first film was fun but still pretty by the numbers so I was pretty surprised we were getting another entry. I do love both Cena and Howery so of course was ready to see what chaos they could get into this time around. To my surprise I think this one might be even better than the first film mostly due to the evolution of the character relationships and additional action sub plot.
The story is a lot more of the same for the most part, but minus all the infighting between the two couples. This time around they have evolved their relationship and bypassed the usual trope of just repeating everything. That also runs the risk of losing what made the previous film work, but the
addition of a new local and characters allows them to deliver more without feeling like the same thing.
This film isn’t breaking down any walls in comedy by any means, but like the first film its just a lot of fun mostly thanks to the cast all seemingly having a blast and going all in. This time around the additions of the always funny Ronny Chieng, Steve Buscemi and an extended running gag for Carlos Antos just added the laughs. The majority of the film walks a lot of the same lines in regards to tone and the laughs, but it’s the second half that changes it to an action comedy that helps it be something a little different.
I got exactly what I expected out of this flick, a good time. It is one of those unnecessary sequels, but the cast are fun to watch and I had fun right along with them. IF you enjoyed the first film you will likely have the same fun this time around so decide for yourself and check out Vacation Friends 2 streaming now on Hulu.