Review: 'Unfinished Business' (2015)

Twentieth Century Fox 

It’s appropriate that Vince Vaughn runs a marathon towards the end of Unfinished Business due to the way the movie quickly starts to feel like: a marathon. With just over an hour and a half running time, it would initially appear that a sprint would be a more appropriate comparison but it’s a long and somewhat tiring experience. Why? To put it simply, it’s not funny. Unfinished Business becomes difficult to get through as it clearly attempts to be a comedy, failing miserably though as it couldn’t be much farther from entertaining, ultimately just becoming a thrown together mess of a movie.

Unfinished Business begins with Dan Trunkman (Vince Vaughn) quitting his job after a heated altercation with his boss Chuck Portnoy (Sienna Miller) over pay cuts. After quitting though, he immediately declares that he is starting his own business. Of course this situation would not be complete if he didn’t pose the “Who’s coming with me?” question. And like the results of most of these scenarios that we see on screen, there are no takers.

It’s not until he gets out to the parking lot that that Tim McWinters (Tom Wilkinson), fired because of his age, and Mike Pancake (Dave Franco), not an employee but happens to be there for an unsuccessful job interview, agree to join Dan’s new found company. In no time at all, without the audience knowing it, it becomes one year later and Dan’s company, with his two employees, are closing in on a deal with a major company but must go to Portland to “shake on it”. Once in Portland though, the deal doesn’t appear to be just a shake away like Dan had thought, causing the trio to travel to Berlin and face off against his former employer as they are also attempting to make a deal.   

There isn’t much going on as far as the obstacles in the way of making this financially big deal, or it doesn’t seem like it anyway. Its made clear that Dan’s former company, lead by Sienna Millers character, is also trying to make the same deal with the same company but you wouldn’t know this from Millers involvement. The audience is led to believe from a couple of scenes in the films set up that Miller as Chuck will be the plots antagonist but after these scenes she is nearly absent for the remainder of the film. Even when she is around she isn’t given anything important or funny to do which is a shame because it’s a character that really could have been ruthless with a comedic spin (Kevin Spacey’s Horrible Bosses type of character) and it would have been nice to see what Miller could have done with it. Going along with this, James Marsden as Jim Spinch, a high up in the major company Dan is attempting to make the deal with, isn’t given much to do, making him easy to overlook. The only way the audience knows that Dan is struggling to close is the going back and forth between looking like a done deal and not, which is never done with any rhyme or reason.

The reason Dan is so desperate to make this deal is meant to add a sentimental storyline as he needs the money to send his kids to an expensive private school due to his son getting bullied but it never feels like an urgent problem and, like the pursuit of making the deal, it never becomes all that climatic. Of course, being bullied is an awful thing and is compelling due to the destruction it can cause, so if a plot is going to touch on it, than it should invoke some kind of feeling whether it is featured in a comedy or not. In this case though, it’s rather flat, never really proving that Dan’s son is being destroyed from bullying actions. Juggling work and family goes hand and hand with this dilemma as Dan is gone a lot for his job and could have worked with a bigger storyline given that it is basically the only aspect of the film that connects. Unfortunately though, it is only briefly touched upon, not given a chance to make much of an impact.

Motivation to complete this deal for Dan’s two employees is rather weak, or is presented weak anyway. Dave Franco’s character, Mike Pancake really has no financial reason for the deal to go through and is primarily here for comedic purposes as his lack of education and his innocence are constantly being poked at. With this, comes out dated, unearned and at times insensitive jokes that cause Franco to appear more annoyingly out of place than funny.

The reason Tom Wilkinson’s character needs the financial benefits from this deal is to pay for the divorce him and his wife are getting. A running joke with this scenario is Tim’s desire to be with other women which never evokes any laughter and just resulting in awkward, unneeded moments. As I mentioned earlier, Tim was fired for being too old which would have made a great storyline that could have involved Tim seeking revenge on his former company. It would also allow Wilkinson to go off a little but instead he is pinned down and way to reserve.       

As you can probably already tell, the main take away from Unfinished Business is how unfunny it is. Sure, the message is weak and underdeveloped but it wouldn’t be the first time that an all-out comedy wasn’t compelling. The case here is that it’s neither. Unfinished Business lacks any type of energy or cleverness that an all-out comedy demands. With humor attempts that involve penis’s coming out of walls, Pancake as a last name and pretending the screen has frozen when face timing, the feeling towards it all becomes an “I’ve seen a better version of this before” type.

When trying to convey how unfunny Unfinished business truly is, an example that comes to mind, when thinking about my experience in theaters this year, I would have to say that Foxcatcher wasn’t as quite inside as it was here. It’s bad enough that just a few people were there but when the few that are aren’t laughing, it becomes clear that this is a comedy that will be quickly forgotten, if acknowledged at all.

Grade: D-