By John Corrado
Elements of time travel and crime thriller collide in Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, an enjoyable action comedy that unfolds with a sort of clever-dumb logic that requires us to just roll with it.
The plot, which unfolds across one night, is filled with twists and double-crossings. The titular players are Mike (James Marsden) – known in the criminal underworld as “Quick Draw Mike” – who is the partner-in-crime to Nick (Vince Vaughn), a gangster who discovers a time machine.
Other Nick (also played by Vaughn) is from the future, and has gone back in time to prevent something that has already happened from happening. Alice (Eiza González) is Nick’s wife, who is also having a dalliance with Mike.
Written and directed by BenDavid Grabinski, this is an example of a film that takes a high concept premise and mainly just has a lot of fun with it. Grabinski’s screenplay is full of snappy, Tarantino-inspired dialogue rife with pop culture references, explaining the internal time travel logic and plot mechanics with efficiency as it goes along, including flashbacks and title cards. Grabinski knows how to stage the John Wick-style shoot ‘em up action scenes, but he wrings a surprising bit of heart out of it as well with some of the character drama underpinning it.
The film is actually at its best when the cast is just bouncing off each other with playful comic energy. Vaughn is back in his classic smooth-talker mode in the dual role of a wise guy and his slightly older, wiser self, while Marsden is a natural fit for the goofy but charming action comedy lead. The cast is rounded out by Ben Schwartz as Symon, the mad scientist inventor of the time machine, and Keith David as a crime lord celebrating the release of his dimwitted son Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro) from prison. This leads to the obvious the gag of Tatro playing Keith David’s son. Canadian actress Emily Hampshire also appears as a cop (the film was shot in Winnipeg).
Grabinski keeps the film moving at a quick pace, replete with a number of killer needle drops. This is a classic crowdpleaser. If anything, the film, which is a Hulu original being released on Disney Plus, is so much fun to watch that it invents a new kind of paradox; it’s a streaming movie that is made to be experienced with an audience (it premiered at SXSW), hooting and hollering along with it.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
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