Hulu’s Vacation Friends is finally here, and if you’re looking to laugh you have more than come to the right place. The film’s comedy comes from several places, but it all starts with the wonderful chemistry between the cast and the willingness to look silly and get lost in the premise and the world that Ron and Kyla introduce Marcus and Yvonne to. John Cena is delightful as the charming and unpredictable Ron, and Ron happens to be at the center of some of the film’s best moments. ComicBook.com had a chance to talk to Cena all about Vacation Friends, including what he took away from working with his castmates, embracing physical comedy, and being the Batman of the Caves.
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First we wanted to know what he learned and took away from the experience and his castmates, as well as how the worlds of comedy relate to the WWE.
“As far as what I learned, not only Rel, Yvonne, Meredith, Clay, King Bach, everybody has a sustainable form of success in their set of skills. I’m around so many funny people. It’s to learn how people present funny and people present comedy, and I love being around comedians especially, because it’s like they’re always in their craft,” Cena said. “I also love the correlation that comedy, especially stand-up comedy, has to the world of WWE, but in WWE, we can’t really be on our craft all the time because it involves having a ring and doing our stuff. Comedians always seem to be in it and always seem to be like, “Oh, well maybe that could be a bit.” I really like to see that process and hear about that journey, and it was really fun getting Rel’s perspective on all that.”
One of the things that Vacation Friends does supremely well is physical comedy, and Cena was thrilled to embrace that element of the project, something stars like Jackie Chan have embraced to great effect.
“Well, I always want audiences to enjoy what we’re doing and a lot of times to transcend any language or cultural barrier, you have to treat it like as a silent movie,” Cena said. “A lot of the comedies that travel well are comedies that do have moments of great physical humor. I think one of the greatest action comedic storytellers of our generation, Jackie Chan, has been able to take martial arts sequences and add humor to them to reach audiences around the world, and has become an icon with doing a lot and saying very little. That’s kind of his, being able to learn from him in that scenario of this is how you send your message.”
It’s also something that Cena knows from his many matches in WWE. “I said in the press conference, one of the ways that WWE is absorbed through audiences around the world, because you don’t have to know what I’m saying. You watch what I’m doing, and then you decide whether you like it or not,” Cena said. “Whether I’m good or evil, and we go from there. I just like aspects of physical comedy, one, because I think it’s within my skillset and two, because I think it helps reach more people and when more people can see the movie, you make more people laugh. You make more people laugh. That’s a great day in the office.”
We had to bring up that Ron is after all a superhero, specifically Batman of the Oregon Caves. “(Laughs) There’s a little subtitle that goes along with that description. I’ll let people see it in the movie, but yeah. Yes. Yes, indeed,” Cena said.
What did you think of Vacation Friends? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things Vacation Friends with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
