Vacation Friends Director Reveals Why Dark Turn Teases Were So Important

Vacation Friends is now streaming on Hulu, and if you’ve read my review of the new comedy you know there are several scenes that tease the film going down a darker path. These forks in the road feel like they are about to turn the film upside down, but even though they don’t end up heading down that darker path, they still help the funny moments that follow land with more impact. ComicBook.com had a chance to speak to director Clay Tarver all about the new film, and we asked him if that constant unease and waiting for the other shoe to drop was always part of the plan for the project.

“I think it was always in there, and I didn’t even know to what degree it was, but when I got into the editing room I realized how important those moments were,” Tarver said. “Ron and Kyla just always keep you off balance, and so you never know what’s real and what’s not. Just when things get too serious and earnest, Ron pulls out a gun. Or just when you think things are so silly, Ron is dead serious. We’ve all seen movies with the crazy couple, or with crazy people in them, or the wild cards, and it was funny. Even when I was reading it for the first time, my brain would sort of go ahead to what was … I’d think, “Oh, so this is where she’s the captive.” And I was so relieved when it wasn’t a dark turn like that, but I felt like keeping the audience expectations and Marcus and Emily’s characters off balance was really important.”

While the film does play with your expectations, sometimes you can see something clearly coming, but despite knowing where you’re headed, the film is able to play with a scene’s execution enough that the ultimate destination is going to make you laugh anyway. Nowhere is this more evident than the boat sequence, which you see coming from a mile away and yet the combination of the camera shot, the music, and Lil Rel Howery’s scream made it one of the funniest scenes in the movie.

“I love dry things like that, and how to make something both surprising and inevitable at the same time. Maybe it’s a choice like that, to shoot from a distance. Which it almost feels for a second like, ‘Wait, is this scene ending? I know it can’t really be ending, so something’s going to happen. Wait, he’s really running into the rocks? He’s actually running into the rocks? Okay. We’re watching him run into the rocks.’ Any little thing I could add to make those moments a little fresher, that’s the kind of comedy I like,” Tarver said.

You can find the official description for Vacation Friends below.

“In this raw and raunchy comedy, straight-laced Marcus and Emily (Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji) are befriended by wild, thrill-seeking partiers Ron and Kyla (John Cena, Meredith Hagner) at a resort in Mexico. Living in the moment, the usually level-headed couple lets loose to enjoy a week of uninhibited fun and debauchery with their new “vacation friends.” Months after their walk on the wild side, Marcus and Emily are horrified when Ron and Kyla show up uninvited at their wedding, creating chaos and proving that what happens on vacation, doesn’t necessarily stay on vacation.”

Vacation Friends is available on Hulu now.

What did you think of Vacation Friends? Let us know in the comments or let me know on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!