A typical teen comedy, in many ways, The Binge focuses on three friends who are out for what should be a legendary night out. Griffin (Skyler Gisondo) wants to reach a big party and confess his feelings to Lena (Grace Van Dien), Hags (Dexter Darden) wants a night that massively boosts their status, and Andrew (Eduardo Franco) is just enjoying the journey, fuelled by drink and drugs. Andrew has a mean brother who may spoil their plans, and Lena is the daughter of Principal Carleson (Vince Vaughn), which makes things complicated.
Directed by Jeremy Garelick (who also gave us The Wedding Ringer, but don’t judge him on that alone), The Binge is a decent selection of set-pieces and minor chuckles written by Jordan VanDina with one big twist that adds to the fun. This is a film that is set in an America where all alcohol and narcotics have been banned, with everything accessible only one day a year. Yes, it is The Purge, but with drugs and alcohol. All other laws and rules still apply, as clarified in a hilarious speech from the Proncipal to the school pupils.
Admittedly, there aren’t too many big laughs here, and if you want something unpredictable then a teen comedy is not what you should be looking for, but the idea is good, and silly, enough to do a lot of lifting. It feels like we haven’t had a strong full-on comedy for a couple of years now (maybe that is just the elasticated time factor of the past year or so) and this does what you want it to do be or just over ninety minutes. There’s even a fun musical number to enjoy.
Gisondo, Darden, and Franco are decent leads, the latter having made an impression on me in a number of recent enjoyable comedies. Van Dien is a bright and appealing love interest, typically so lovely and funny that you are not quite sure why she might be interested in the lead character, but these films are mainly fantasies. Then you have Vaughn, giving another superb turn as the Principal, and someone who is very much anti-binge, perhaps with strong reasons to be that way. Vaughn has been excelling in a variety of roles recently, and I hope he is rewarded for some of the great moments that he has been delivering.
There could be more done here, the script could have been polished up a lot more, supporting cast could be better, and the soundtrack could have had a selection of hits throughout, but this generally succeeds in what it is aiming to do. People drink alcohol and take drugs, and the results are fairly amusing. There are also a couple of very fun impressions of Pacino in Scarface.
Unlike the activities depicted onscreen, you probably won’t regret this once it’s all over. Nothing great, but a decent enough choice if you’re in the mood for some dumb fun.
6/10
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