Instead of grading movies by one to four stars, maybe we should use snow shovels in the winter. Just how much trouble and effort is a movie worth?
In the case of “Unfinished Business,” the answer is not as much as you might wish. After all, most moviegoers want to root for Vince Vaughn, to figuratively chuck him on the arm and say, “Good luck, you big lug.”
He needs it for this R-rated comedy that seems to want to deliver messages about bullying (bad) and independence and persistence (both good) while it aims for laughs with nudity, gambits in a gay bar and a mismatched trio of business travelers.
Starring: Vince Vaughan, Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco, Sienna Miller.
Rating: R for some strong risque sexual content/graphic nudity, and for language and drug use.
As the movie opens, salesman Dan Trunkman has finally had it with his boss, Chuck Portnoy (Sienna Miller). She tells him department salaries are being restructured, which means a pay cut for Dan, who threatens to walk and does. It’s not exactly a Jerry Maguire moment, but he runs into a couple of men in the parking lot — the 67-year-old Timothy (Tom Wilkinson), who is being forced to retire due to age, and unsuccessful applicant Mike Pancake (Dave Franco) — who join him in a fledgling business.
After a year, they’re still working out of the Dunkin’ Donuts, but they are close to sealing a big deal, which unexpectedly takes them to Berlin and finds them competing with the flirtatious, dismissive Chuck. This comes as Dan faces pressure to move his children into pricy private school, Timothy is looking for a way out of his marriage, and sweet but simple Mike is hoping for some new adventures and maybe experience with women.
Not a shred of interest is generated by their business in swarf (metallic filings or residue), and that isn’t a fatal problem, but the story strings together encounters designed to generate laughs or discomfort as with a business meeting in a spa where everyone is naked but the Americans, or the inevitable distracting reaction to Mike’s last name of Pancake. Breakfast jokes all around.
Ken Scott, director-writer of “Delivery Man” starring Mr. Vaughn as a sperm donor who produced 533 children, directs the comedy written by Steve Conrad, whose credits include “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” starring Ben Stiller, “The Weather Man” with Nicolas Cage and “The Pursuit of Happyness” with Will Smith.
The comedy aims to deliver liberation for Timothy and Mike while allowing Dan to contemplate what it means to be a breadwinner, father and husband. No one expects dramatic depth in a comedy, but this barely scratches the surface of any of the characters and generates precious few laughs.
It turns out “Unfinished Business” is aptly named.
Movie editor Barbara Vancheri: bvancheri@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1632. Read her blog: www.post-gazette.com/madaboutmovies.
First Published: March 6, 2015, 5:00 a.m.