The latest instalment from director Ken Scott (Delivery Man) is Unfinished Business. Billed as the latest great comedy it stars comedy veteran Vince Vaughan, Dave Franco (brother of James) and Tom Wilkinson (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). I generally find time and time again that comedies like these which are heavily marketed tend to fail in terms of comedic delivery. If you watch the trailer for it (see below), most of the funny moments from the entire film are shown in it.
The story centres around Vaughan’s character Dan Trunkman who after an argument with his boss, quits his job to start his own sales company. He even throws out a Jerry Maguire ‘who’s with me’ speech. Wilkinson’s character Timothy McWinters is fired from the same company while Franco’s character Mike Pancake had been in for an interview at the company. All three meet in the car park and decide to work together. A story line we have seen many times before.
The trio spend a year pitching for a piece of work that leads them to Berlin for what they thought was a handshake to close the deal. Step forward Chuck Portnoy (Sienna Miller) as Dan’s old boss, who is also pitching for the same piece of work. This is followed by a series of who can do better meetings between the rivals ultimately ending with Chuck coming out as the frontrunner. The storyline is punctuated by some scenes where Dan Trunkman deals with the pressure’s of home, namely his kids being bullied. It actually all feels a little out of place to be honest. A few inspirational talks are thrown in to inspire the kids and ultimately Dan himself which lead to the team not giving up on their goal of securing the contract.
Next, a montage of the trio in various scenes of drinking, cheering and ending up in bizarre and convoluted situations like a bathroom full of glory holes where they meet Bill Whilmsley, who is part of the negotiations team for the contract. He joins them on their boozefest and ultimately puts them face to face with the man who can say yay or nay to their proposal.
For me the standout star of the movie is Dave Franco playing Mike Pancake. A somewhat dim witted but eager lost soul who is getting an education in life on the trip, as well as losing his virginity ‘twice’. He has great comedic timing carried out in an unintentional manner which makes him all the more likeable. He is absolutely superb in the role and without him the movie would suffer.
Dave Franco
Overall the movie is not entirely bad, but it’s not exactly breaking new ground on comedy either. The writing is standard fare and I can’t help thinking its the reason the actors fall short of reaching their potential. It passes an hour and half easily but chances are you won’t be raving about it to your friends. Out of 5 I’d give it 2.5. You can catch the trailer below and decide for yourself.
