When you watch a Vince Vaughn movie you can expect a few things going in.  One, it is almost always funny.  In fact, unless you know that it is not going to be a comedy, you can expect a few laughs.  Usually more.  Secondly, Vince Vaughn plays the same character in each and every film.  It is partly why his films are so successful and why everyone loves him so much.  Is it a bad thing?  Maybe, but it usually matters very little as everyone will still go to see his movies because they make you smile and ultimately feel good when they are finished.

That takes us to his latest picture, Unfinished Business.  It is the same movie you have seen from him many times before.  It is Dodgeball, Wedding Crashers, The Internship, Four Christmases, Delivery Man and more.  The situations might be a little different, the characters, their names and the actors all changed, but it is the same movie you have seen him in now for ten years running.  Here, he is Dan Trunkman, a salesman who leaves his company Jerry McGuire-style, deciding to work for himself and taking anyone else that wants to come with him.  A year later, he are not doing too well and everything hinges upon him making this one deal, and should he and his team not, well, we as the viewer know that will never happen.  So, Vaughn and his employees, Tom Wilkinson and Dave Franco head on off to Germany to present their deal from scratch because his biggest competitor and former boss played by Sienna Miller is also in the running.  What follows are the usual hilarious situations, and they are quite funny, interspersed by dramatic moments involving our protagonist’s family to hammer home just how important that this deal is for him.

Predictable or not, Vaughn brings his usual charm to the film and coupled with a strong supporting cast as well as a very humourous script by Steve Conrad, the film works, just like all the previous comedies he has appeared in.  Vaughn is the loveable loser, surrounded by other lovable losers though to him, they are friends and co-workers.  Dave Franco is the young and inexperienced member of the team while Tom Wilkinson is the older and far more jaded colleague.  Together, despite their disparate age differences, they have a great chemistry and every one of the three pulls in the laughs.  James Marsden and Nick Frost also bring the funny, maybe not as much as our main players, but they add a great dynamic to the film.  The movie does feature a fair amount of nudity, both male and female and it lends to that kind of crass, low-brow humour that many of his films have relied on.  If you like that kind of humour, and many do, then you will enjoy this film.  For those that do not, best to avoid it.

If you are looking for something revelatory or something new and meaningful from director Ken Scott’s Unfinished Business, then you are in for a bit of bad news.  But should you be in the mood for a fairly standard, Vince Vaughn comedy where you essentially know what is going to happen, then this movie will not disappoint.  You have seen it before and you will most likely see it again, and while heavily clichéd and repetitive, it is a perfect time-waster.  It will make you smile and make you laugh and really, there are worse things than being entertained.

3.5 out of 5