Ken Scott
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Connections, in both directions
Writer-director Ken Scott returns to helm the American version, an act that is not without precedent: George Sluizer and Francis Veber did the same for "The Vanishing" and "Three Fugitives" respectively.
Is it a road-trip comedy similar to The Hangover, which it seems to attempt to be at times?
When you consider how well a movie like The Hangover worked by the way it put a complimentary group of actors into a simple comedy premise, at least on paper Unfinished Business should work, except that its first major faux pas was casting Vince Vaughn over any number of funnier actors and then not putting him in situations that are necessarily funny in themselves.
The ads and trailers would lead one to believe that this is the kooky Vince Vaughn of “The Wedding Crashers” or “Old School,” off to some wacky adventures à la “The Hangover.”
Tammy, The Hangover, just about any Adam Sandler flick), as the scriptwriters go soft and include a faux-meaningful ending in a misguided effort to add what they believe is heft but is really just b.s.
Unfinished Business clearly wants to meld Office Space's wry workplace humour and The Hangover's bawdy sensibility, but in the end it succeeds at neither.
A guys-gone-wild romp in the well-worn tradition of Todd Phillips’ Hangover franchise, this is the latest example of a movie that doesn’t work hard enough to freshen up formulas used and abused by filmmakers like Phillips, Judd Apatow, Nicholas Stoller (Neighbors), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and others.
Director Ken Scott and screenwriter Steve Conrad's unkempt but basically lively and often hilarious business comedy has the rude verve of Horrible Bosses, but takes its edgy factor even further.
In a prologue that suggests a discarded subplot from “Horrible Bosses,” we see Dan quitting his job in the highly competitive mineral sales industry, fed up with his ball-busting superior, Chuck (Sienna Miller).
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Directed by Ben Stiller
influenced Unfinished Business (2015)
Writer Steve Conrad has tackled the burdens of fatherhood (The Pursuit of Happyness, The Weather Man) and workplace ennui (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) before, never better than with his overlooked directorial debut, The Promotion, but Business struggles to tell three different stories: one of corporate underdogs, another about raucous adventures abroad, and yet a third about the growing disconnect between a workaholic father and his family.
Director Ken Scott (Delivery Man) and screenwriter Steve Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) have a relatable flick in those spots.
Director Ken Scott (Vaughn's "Delivery Man") and writer Steve Conrad (Ben Stiller's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty") dutifully include scenes of sex and drugs, but their hearts aren't in it.
This brand of underdog/misfit dramedy is familiar enough territory for screenwriter Steve Conrad, whose scripts have largely centered around the funny-sad spectacle of an ordinary guy trying to transcend his glum material circumstances — most recently in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” and before that in “The Weather Man” and “The Pursuit of Happyness,” still the best film produced from his work.
Even in “ The Secret Life of Walter Mitty ,” Conrad mostly succeeded in exploring the comedic and dramatic possibilities in that conflict, but he doesn’t even come close with “Unfinished Business.”
Conrad, who previously explored themes of family, job satisfaction and the workplace in “The Promotion,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” “The Weather Man” and “The Pursuit of Happyness,” is out of his element in trying to pen a comedy Vaughn’s fanbase would expect.
Writer Steve Conrad has tackled the burdens of fatherhood (The Pursuit of Happyness, The Weather Man) and workplace ennui (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) before, never better than with his overlooked directorial debut, The Promotion, but Business struggles to tell three different stories: one of corporate underdogs, another about raucous adventures abroad, and yet a third about the growing disconnect between a workaholic father and his family.
The piece of business that's most unfinished in the desperate comedy "Unfinished Business" is the wan hodgepodge of a script by Steve Conrad, a talented screenwriter ("The Promotion," "The Pursuit of Happyness") who should've known better.
This brand of underdog/misfit dramedy is familiar enough territory for screenwriter Steve Conrad, whose scripts have largely centered around the funny-sad spectacle of an ordinary guy trying to transcend his glum material circumstances — most recently in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” and before that in “The Weather Man” and “The Pursuit of Happyness,” still the best film produced from his work.
Conrad, who previously explored themes of family, job satisfaction and the workplace in “The Promotion,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” “The Weather Man” and “The Pursuit of Happyness,” is out of his element in trying to pen a comedy Vaughn’s fanbase would expect.
When it’s not indulging in lowbrow sex humor (not a bad thing in itself, mind you), the script, courtesy of Steven Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness), tosses around some very lame jokes — sometimes repeatedly.
His malapropisms are cute and he sells the silly lines given to him by scriptwriter Steven Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness, The Promotion).