• Home
  • Longform
    • Defanging the Unthinkable
      more
      View more

      Defanging the Unthinkable

      5 years ago
    • A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye
      more
      View more

      A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye

      5 years ago
    • The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"
      more
      View more

      The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"

      5 years ago
    • The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"
      more
      View more

      The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"

      5 years ago
  • Interviews
    • A New Way of Telling Love Stories
      more
      View more

      A New Way of Telling Love Stories

      5 years ago
    • Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"
      more
      View more

      Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"

      5 years ago
    • Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast
      more
      View more

      Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast

      5 years ago
    • The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"
      more
      View more

      The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"

      6 years ago
  • Critic-At-Large
    • Now Playing: "From Nowhere"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "From Nowhere"

      5 years ago
    • Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"

      5 years ago
    • Now Playing: "War on Everyone"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "War on Everyone"

      5 years ago
    • Now Playing: "The Salesman"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "The Salesman"

      5 years ago
  • Podcast
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"

      5 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"

      5 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"

      5 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"

      5 years ago
Movie Mezzanine
  • Home
  • Longform
    • Defanging the Unthinkable
      more
      View more

      Defanging the Unthinkable

      5 years ago
    • A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye
      more
      View more

      A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye

      5 years ago
    • The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"
      more
      View more

      The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"

      5 years ago
    • The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"
      more
      View more

      The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"

      5 years ago
  • Interviews
    • A New Way of Telling Love Stories
      more
      View more

      A New Way of Telling Love Stories

      5 years ago
    • Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"
      more
      View more

      Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"

      5 years ago
    • Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast
      more
      View more

      Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast

      5 years ago
    • The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"
      more
      View more

      The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"

      6 years ago
  • Critic-At-Large
    • Now Playing: "From Nowhere"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "From Nowhere"

      5 years ago
    • Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"

      5 years ago
    • Now Playing: "War on Everyone"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "War on Everyone"

      5 years ago
    • Now Playing: "The Salesman"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "The Salesman"

      5 years ago
  • Podcast
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"

      5 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"

      5 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"

      5 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"

      5 years ago
  • Home
  • Longform
    • Defanging the Unthinkable
      more
      View more

      Defanging the Unthinkable

      5 years ago
    • A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye
      more
      View more

      A Fitting, Impressive Goodbye

      5 years ago
    • The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"
      more
      View more

      The Ambivalent, Bittersweet "My Life as a Zucchini"

      5 years ago
    • The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"
      more
      View more

      The Complex Morality of "No Country for Old Men"

      5 years ago
  • Interviews
    • A New Way of Telling Love Stories
      more
      View more

      A New Way of Telling Love Stories

      5 years ago
    • Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"
      more
      View more

      Breaking Standards with Julian Rosefeldt of "Manifesto"

      5 years ago
    • Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast
      more
      View more

      Indulging Mightily with Alex Ross Perry and the "Golden Exits" Cast

      5 years ago
    • The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"
      more
      View more

      The Ultimate Meta-Performance: Kate Lyn Sheil on "Kate Plays Christine"

      6 years ago
  • Critic-At-Large
    • Now Playing: "From Nowhere"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "From Nowhere"

      5 years ago
    • Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "Fifty Shades Darker"

      5 years ago
    • Now Playing: "War on Everyone"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "War on Everyone"

      5 years ago
    • Now Playing: "The Salesman"
      more
      View more

      Now Playing: "The Salesman"

      5 years ago
  • Podcast
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 287: "Kundun"

      5 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 286: "Pinocchio"

      5 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 285: "That Darn Cat"

      5 years ago
    • Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"
      more
      View more

      Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 284: "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement"

      5 years ago
“Unfinished Business”
  • Theatrical

“Unfinished Business”

  • by Andy Crump
  • March 6, 2015
  • 0
  • 2315

There are details about Ken Scott’s Unfinished Business worth respecting, or at least admiring. Scott has made a movie rooted in an indistinct business environment in which a woman holds a position of top authority; she’s allowed to be bluntly, even crudely alpha without being caricaturized or defamed for it, at least until an unfortunate display of Dave Franco’s tuches during the film’s denouement. And for as many times the film revels in the sight of bare breasts, it also cares enough to show off the male member in full view for the benefit of punchlines, which is sort of unexpected given how wobbly studios are with depictions of all things penile.

At this point, you can probably tell that Unfinished Business isn’t a particularly good movie; these are silver linings a person really has to reach for to find and appreciate them. On that same token, this isn’t a particularly bad movie, either, but it’s blandly drawn, awkwardly paced, and contains a real scarcity of good gags, visual, verbal, or otherwise. A comedy production can be many things – acrid, sweet, joyful, melancholy, sly, stupid, outrageous, refined – but it absolutely must be funny, which is such an obvious trait that being forced to spell it out in a sentence is sort of embarrassing.

In Unfinished Business, Dan Trunkman (Vince Vaughn) breaks free from his employer, Chuck Portnoy (Sienna Miller), and strikes out on his own in the swarf game. (Swarf, in case you’re interested, is an actual thing, but you’re not, so let’s leave it alone.) Dan’s company, Apex Select, boasts a staff of three, including him; his associates are Timothy McWinters (Tom Wilkinson), an older gent with a pervy streak a mile wide, and Mike Pancake (Dave Franco), a character who screenwriter Steven Conrad appears to have created just as an excuse to bag on intellectually disabled people. The three of them are on their way to securing an Important Business Deal, but Chuck butts in on the action to give the guys competition and thus sets their road trip off-kilter, all the better to engage in naughty European hijinks.

Unfinished Business is at its best, so to speak, when focused on Wilkinson, a well-regarded actor generally associated with high bearing. Timothy isn’t given much motivation to do any of the things he does; every action he takes is in service to the idea that sexagenarians smoking weed and ordering sex maids is hilarious. With a guy like Wilkinson in the role, that lazy conceptualization works, but only because it’s Wilkinson. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard Tom Wilkinson wax poetic about wheelbarrowing. Frankly, Scott and Conrad are more obsessed with sex positions than Timothy is, but at least Wilkinson gives their puerility some deadpan pizazz.

The rest is a bust. Vaughn does his Vaughn thing, which is fine if you’re still into that. He is, at certain points, afforded chances to show some surprising sweetness, as Dan’s two kids are both dealing with school bullies, a theme the film does a impressively half-assed job of bleeding into its A-plot. Mike, meanwhile, is so inept that we feel guilty for finding him irritating. It’s not that he’s a bad guy but rather that Unfinished Business treats him with shameful mean-spiritedness. He’s barely even a character, though that word – “barely” – accurately describes just about every other element of Scott’s work from tip to toe. Comedies this toothless and safe are a dime a dozen; it’s tempting to be outraged over the film’s worst offense, but its myriad trivial offenses are so unrelenting that it barely seems worth the effort.

Tags
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Related posts

  • KenjiF
3
“Anomalisa” Is A Genuinely Enlivening Work of Art

“Anomalisa” Is A Genuinely Enlivening Work of Art

7 years ago
  • JakeCole
14
Back to Basics in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

Back to Basics in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

7 years ago
  • Tomris Laffly
4
David O. Russell’s Fulfilling “Joy”

David O. Russell’s Fulfilling “Joy”

7 years ago

3 thoughts on ““Unfinished Business””

  1. Pingback: BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 03/06/2015 | Boston Online Film Critics Association

  2. Steven Flores on March 6, 2015 at 8:22 PM said:

    Vince Vaughn should be dead now because all he does is play the same fucking character.

  3. Pingback: Review: Unfinished Business, 2015, dir. Ken Scott | A Constant Visual Feast

About Us

Movie Mezzanine is an online publication dedicated to covering the medium that connects us all, one film at a time. With writers stationed around the globe, we offer a uniquely diverse perspective on cinema, both old and new. To learn more about us, go here.

Spotlight

Putting the Geek to the Plow

Cleantalk Pixel