In the vein of Back To The Future and Hot Tub Time Machine, this action comedy from writer/director BenDavid Grabinski revolves around Nick (Vince Vaughn) and his friendship with Mike (James Marsden) as he tries to right a recent wrong that centers around his wife Alice (Eiza Gonzalez), all while trying to survive an organized crime family.
The film opens to Symon (Ben Schwartz) singing along to the music of Billy Joel’s “Why Should I Worry?” and working on some sort of mathematical formula, until a mysterious figure appears behind a closed door and shoots him, and the ricochet from the bullet causes the place to go up in flames.
Elsewhere, there’s a party being held for Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro), who’s just been released from doing 6 years in jail. While his father, Sosa (Keith David), delivers a toast in celebration, he also declares that he holds someone at the party responsible for Jimmy Boy’s incarceration. As the party continues, Alice approaches Nick about an after-party that he was only invited to and how she plans to go for her own girls’ night out. We discover that her girls’ night is actually a rendezvous with Mike, with whom she’s been having an affair. As Mike waits for Alice at a hotel, out of the blue, Nick shows up to ask for his help to run an errand.
Nick and Mike end up outside of Nick’s house, and Mike’s given a wet rag of chloroform. Nick gives him specific instructions that no matter what he sees, he is not to hesitate and chloroform whoever opens the door. As Mike approaches the house, he meets Nick’s dopplegänger. Mike then tries for the chloroform, but it fails, which leads to a scuffle between the two, and Mike knocks out the person who looks like Nick.
Mike, Alice, and Nick size up the chaos below in a parking garage scene from Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice.
“Nick reveals to Mike that he’s actually Future Nick from Symon’s time machine”
Outside, Nick approaches, and Mike questions him to see if there’s a twin he doesn’t know about, and he’s told no. As they go inside, the person who looks like Nick has disappeared, and Sosa unexpectedly shows up, and Nick tells Mike to hide. It’s revealed to Nick that Mike is responsible for Jimmy Boy going to jail, and that a contract killer named The Baron has been hired. After Sosa leaves, Nick reveals to Mike that he’s actually Future Nick from Symon’s time machine, and they now have to stop Present Nick, who’s escaped, and The Baron from killing Mike.
This just might be my favorite film of the year so far. It had me laughing as soon as Present Nick answered the door before I knew what the twist was. Vince Vaughn does a great job of playing two versions of himself; there’s a whole A Christmas Carol, Scrooge type vibe to his performance, Future Nick being fully aware of his past ways, and Present Nick unaware of the future and the consequences that his actions bring. James Marsden, too, is killing it with picking his roles lately, from a great upcoming guest star arc on Apple TV’s Your Friends and Neighbors season two, and revisiting his X-Men role as Cyclops in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Eiza Gonzalez said a while back that she doesn’t want to just play a pretty face, and she’s definitely no damsel in distress as Alice, showcasing her own comedic chops.
Writer/director BenDavid Grabsinski doesn’t waste the audience’s time with all the nuances of how the time machine works. He just gets to the story, the purpose of why Nick uses it, and the fun, crazy antics that come from it. Although the film was released directly to streaming, I actually believe it should have been released theatrically and would have done pretty well.
"…just might be my favorite film of the year so far..."
