{"id":495598,"date":"2026-03-26T02:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/495598\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T02:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:21:13","slug":"mike-nick-nick-alice-review-a-quirky-action-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/495598\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice\u2019 review: A quirky action-comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMike & Nick & Nick & Alice\u201d<\/a> might look like a somewhat generic, glossy action-comedy on the surface. It\u2019s got two (well, kind of three, but we\u2019ll get to that later) men north of 50 ( Vince Vaughn<\/a> and James Marsden<\/a> ), one woman south of 40 (Eiza Gonz\u00e1lez) and the promise of some violence (you know, the fun kind). That\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing \u2014 sometimes you get a \u201cThis Means War\u201d or a \u201cMr. & Mrs. Smith.\u201d But in the streaming era, more often than not you get, I don\u2019t know, \u201cRed One\u201d?<\/a>\u201cFountain of Youth\u201d?<\/a> Something else we\u2019ve already all forgotten?<\/p>\n

This might also be a streaming-era production, debuting on Hulu and Disney+ on Friday, but it\u2019s clear from the very first moments that \u201cMike & Nick & Nick & Alice\u201d isn\u2019t just a generic facsimile of a \u201cfun\u201d movie designed for more for the algorithm than anyone\u2019s amusement. No, this is a movie that begins, for no particular reason other than probably the delight of the filmmakers, with Ben Schwartz singing \u201cWhy Should I Worry?\u201d a song that was written and sung by Billy Joel<\/a> for the 1988 animated Disney movie \u201cOliver & Company,\u201d a modern, New York City-set take on Charles Dickens starring dogs. Is it related to anything? No. Is it a fun song to set the tone that also made this elder millennial critic smile? Yes.<\/p>\n

There are choices like this throughout the film, mostly through precise, lighthearted banter that sounds real. There\u2019s even a spirited debate about the best and worst boyfriends on \u201cGilmore Girls\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Rory\u2019s, not Lorelai\u2019s, which falls a little flat in execution. I\u2019m not sure the actors\u2019 hearts are really invested in Logan and Jess the way, say, Liam Neeson was able to act genuinely distraught over his \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer\u201d episodes being deleted off his DVR in \u201cThe Naked Gun.\u201d<\/a> But it\u2019s an amusing idea nonetheless. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

They\u2019re all hyperspecific references that feel almost reassuring that yes, a human, in this case writer-director BenDavid Grabinski, made this thing and not a computer. Like Rory Gilmore, Grabinski\u2019s interests are \u201cteasingly diverse\u201d (cats! Time travel logistics! Symon spelled with a \u201cy\u201d!) and they do also include elaborate, stabby, shoot-’em-up action sequences that could very well have fit into a Doug Liman or McG studio pic from 20 years ago, with grenades, blood and a fair amount of butt-kicking.<\/p>\n

The loose construct is that a hit man named Nick (Vaughn) time travels back to a certain night to save his friend and colleague Mike (Marsden), who is in love with Nick\u2019s wife Alice (Gonz\u00e1lez). For a fair amount of the movie there are two Nicks, present Nick and future Nick (it\u2019s not a spoiler if it\u2019s in the trailer! And the movie\u2019s title!). Vaughn manages to give his character some unexpected depth too. That there\u2019s some real acting going on is pleasantly surprising. <\/p>\n

Everyone in the big ensemble, which includes Keith David as the mob boss, Jimmy Tatro as his dim son, Emily Hampshire as a crooked and horny police officer, as well as Arturo Castro and Stephen Root, is game for a good, silly, violent time. Are any of them remotely believable as humans? Not exactly, but that\u2019s also not the point of this kind of movie, which also overstays its welcome by a little bit. There\u2019s just not enough there to warrant its runtime.<\/p>\n

But ultimately \u201cMike & Nick & Nick & Alice\u201d has a few good laughs, some inspired needle drops, quirky references and a go-for-broke energy that should make it an enjoyable, low-stakes click.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike & Nick & Nick & Alice,\u201d a 20th Century Studios release streaming on Hulu and Disney+ on Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for \u201cstrong\/bloody violence, pervasive language, sexual material, and drug use.\u201d Running time: 107 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cMike & Nick & Nick & Alice\u201d might look like a somewhat generic, glossy action-comedy on the surface.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[22071,10052,148110,164011,9494,23857,2973,52381,174561,96,8356,30351,164013,164014,7521,174562,130259,3714,174560,2839,3873,174563,153209,56,54,55,164015],"class_list":["post-495598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-alice","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-arturo-castro","tag-ben-schwartz","tag-billy-joel","tag-charles-dickens","tag-comedy","tag-doug-liman","tag-emily-hampshire","tag-entertainment","tag-film-reviews","tag-james-marsden","tag-jimmy-tatro","tag-keith-david","tag-liam-neeson","tag-lindsey-bahr","tag-mcg","tag-media","tag-media-and-entertainment-industry","tag-movies","tag-new-york-city","tag-rory-gilmore","tag-stephen-root","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vince-vaughn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}