Vacation Friends 2 (2023)

Vacation Friends 2 is the kind of sequel that knows exactly what it is: a loud, sun-drenched pressure valve of a comedy where one “relaxing” resort trip keeps detonating into bigger, dumber, funnier chaos. The secret weapon is the quartet’s chemistry—Lil Rel Howery’s tightly-wound sincerity plays perfectly against John Cena’s golden-retriever bravado, while Yvonne Orji and Meredith Hagner keep the madness grounded with sharp timing and game-for-anything energy. Clay Tarver keeps the vibe breezy and rowdy, tossing in just enough edge (and a well-deployed Steve Buscemi) to make the mayhem feel gleefully unhinged rather than routine. If you’re allergic to crass jokes or prefer your comedy tidy and tasteful, it may not be your vacation—but if you want a fast, shameless ride with a cast that commits hard, this one delivers.

Vacation Friends 2 is clearly trying to bottle the first film’s chaotic “nice people dragged into outrageous vacation trouble” energy and crank it up into a bigger, sunnier, more action-y farce. The problem is it often feels like a rerun with louder stakes: the plot lurches from one contrived disaster to the next, and the jokes lean heavily on crassness and repetition rather than genuinely clever escalation. John Cena’s committed goofball intensity and the cast’s chemistry do provide occasional sparks, but they’re fighting a formula that can feel bland and oddly tedious for something this hyper. If you want easy background comedy with familiar characters, you might coast along fine; if you’re hoping for sharp laughs, fresh ideas, or anything resembling subtlety, this probably isn’t worth your time.