Reasons To Watch 'Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice,' Ranked

Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice debuted on Hulu and Disney+ last month. I saw the trailer and thought, “Hey, I bet I'd like that” and then it dropped and I forgot to watch it for a week. But then I did watch. And I liked it a lot. Turns out I know me pretty well. I should pay more attention to the things I say.

Here are some reasons I think you should watch it, too, ranked from 10 to 1…

TEN: It’s a time-travel comedy. You love a time-travel comedy. They’re silly and fun and often filled with logical wormholes so deep you could get lost in them forever if you think about them too much. Which is why you should not think about them too much. Because then you will be sitting there thinking “Why did Vince Vaughn’s character travel back in time to the night of the party to save the life of the man who is sleeping with his wife instead of traveling back in time to not let his MARRIAGE TO EIZA GONZALES crumble to the degree that they were both having affairs to escape a loveless union?” Jesus Christ, dude. 

NINE: That said, watching this movie with another person will allow the two of you to have an “if I had a time machine…” conversation, which is a top-five hypothetical situation to discuss.

EIGHT: Okay, yes, this is a Vince Vaughn movie, and your mileage on Vince Vaughn as a leading man may vary. I’m cool with it when he’s dialed wayyyyyyyy back and not giving it too much Vince Vaughn (he was great in Bad Monkey), but his more abrasive performances grate on me. The nice thing here is that the movie has two Vince Vaughns — HEAR ME OUT — and the chiller and more dialed back one spends the whole movie trying to get the abrasive one to chill out and dial it back, like, as a human, and busting on him when he doesn’t. It was very affirming for me as a viewer. Maybe it will be for you, too.

SEVEN: Jimmy Tatro plays the bozo adopted son of a mob boss played by Keith David and both of them are really just doing terrific work in here – Tatro, especially. 

SIX: Sample names of mob henchmen in their organization include Dumbass Tony, Roid Rage Ryan, and Jackie Napalm, which is part of a commitment to goofiness throughout the movie that I really appreciate. Just a bunch of dumb jokes and fun twists straight through, sometimes playing on the conundrums of time travel and sometimes just in there because you could tell it made someone giggle a little when they thought of it. I respect movies that are proud of being a little dumb. 

FIVE: On that note, there is a Gilmore Girls riff in here that starts out as what appears to be a standard pop culture reference but then goes on so, so much longer than you’d think, which even I — a person who has never seen Gilmore Girls — found delightful. 

FOUR: The soundtrack is straight-up millennial bait, with needle drops for Papa Roach and Oasis and others that fit perfectly, and I, as an easily baited millennial, enjoyed it quite a bit. 

THREE: Dude, James Marsden is so good at comedy. It’s kind of wild. It’s almost a Gosling situation, where he’s so good-looking that he should not be allowed to also be this funny, and it should make me angry that he is, and yet there I was, charmed by this dope straight through. Remember how good he was in the first season of Jury Duty? He’s having that kind of fun here as a hitman who wants out but is being framed for snitching and running for his life and is also in love with his boss’s wife. One day, he and Gosling should do a Notebook-reunion action-comedy together and see if all this charm holds or if it’s finally the thing that breaks me.

TWO: If you’re reading all this and thinking, “Hmm, this feels like a movie where Stephen Root shows up for a little bit…” buddy, do I have good news for you. 

ONE: I dunno, man. Everyone seems stressed out lately. There is too much news happening all the time and it can be hard sometimes to stop looking at it all. But you need a break. Preferably a two-hour break to watch a silly time travel comedy where a cat named Kingpin shows up and steals a scene or two. You deserve it.

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STUFF I CLICKED ON

— Sepinwall wrote about how the Shrinking season finale felt A LOT like a series finale

— Fran Hoepfner on the beauty of a chaotic RPattz press tour

— Howard Beck on the NBA’s stupidest rule

— “Inside a Corporate Retreat That Went Very Badly Wrong” (find a gift link here)

— the Pope met the Globetrotters

— I can’t stop looking at pictures from space

— on that subject: very important blog about space toilets

— Christina Hendricks is a DJ

— I, too, am glad to see Donald Glover being silly again 

— I need you to see how far Luke Knox takes this spaghetti gag from For All Mankind

— Mel B is fed up

— I love Domino the tiny bumpy fish 

— plane lands on highway

— banana heist

— nacho sombrero 

— “Alleged maple syrup scam in Quebec uncovered by Canadian broadcaster”

— "Hero rat who sniffed out over 100 land mines is honored with giant statue"

— earlier today I took advantage of a "three party-size bags of Ruffles for $10" sale – regular price: $7.29/bag – and I immediately ran this scene through my head again

Okay, that's it for this week. Please share and subscribe and watch a nice little time travel movie.