Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice: Snark And Violence
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice Starts Off Already Weird
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is an odd movie. Full of so many very deliberate choices. I cannot confirm this, but I couldn’t help but feel the creators were going for a very specific homage, or were perhaps trying to replicate a distinct director’s style. If not, though, then this movie has invented a style.
Whether the style is good or not is subjective (for the record, I liked it) but its outcomes are curious. Watching Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is unmooring but vaguely comedic. A little like floating on a daydream of silly concepts—until violence comes in to interrupt. Every character is so intimately connected with violence that they’re not phased by most events, but the cinematography pumps up every fight scene to an elongated brawl of frantic, destructive, and heavily edited chaos. I’d say Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is going for the theme of audience perception versus the characters’ perceptions, but realism can’t survive in a movie also about time travel.
The Actual Core Of This Film Is An Absurd Comedy
I want to say that Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice doesn’t need its time travel. That it’s a stylized crime thriller about infidelity and revenge that occasionally tells some jokes. Halfway (or so) through watching, I’d hoped removing Future Nick wouldn’t change that many plot events at all because it would make this a more interesting review article. And it was a sort of true assessment—you could tweak this movie to make that work—but then the substantial character arc (not arcs) fails. Almost every character in this movie is blatantly, seemingly deliberately, flat, except for Nick. Time travel is mostly a metaphor for regret, as Nick is back in time to stop himself from making a series of bad decisions. I say it’s a metaphor because we get, like, one or two scenes that rapidly explain a few rules about time travel, and then everyone’s mostly cool with it and doesn’t question it a ton. But we get a ton of focus on Present Nick coming to terms with his own life and choices, and—in a classic action film move—“redeems” himself through various violent events. Despite cutting between a series of drug-&-sex fueled parties, random quirky side characters, and semi-unneeded flashbacks, Nick really is the “heart” of this movie.
This Is Not The Film To Watch For Deep Characters
But I wouldn’t say this movie has heart. It doesn’t have much of any emotional impact except amusement. The propelling factor of Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is ultimately curiosity about what could possibly happen next. On a technical level, it’s honestly impressive to think about how many little moments the story places down to keep an audience engaged. Both literal guns and many lines of dialog serve as Chekov’s Guns throughout, and by the time the final conflict is revealed, my reaction could be best condensed down to, “That’s how we’re going to resolve this?” And then it is resolved that way, despite being absurd, with much bombast—and I couldn’t help but have a fun time. I couldn’t help but enjoy the movie, once again, switching to its high-effort chaos.
Such cohesion runs dry, though, with the last few minutes. After the third act climax, after Nick finishes his emotional arc, we get a comedic stinger. And it’s terrible. Actually undercutting the whole movie terrible. I get the impression that Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice was set up for a sequel. I get the impression this could’ve been a much longer movie if what happens happened halfway through—but that would’ve made this a totally different experience. And without all that runtime, it’s an extraneous piece in need of cutting. What we actually have with Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is a breezy, unserious, enjoyable, standalone action movie with a fun gimmick, nothing more needed. Watch the film and pair it with your favorite popcorn (or other snack) but accept the last bite will be weirdly sour.
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