Big Business - Außer Spesen nichts gewesen

Unfinished Business was a welcome surprise. Based on what I had read about it, I was prepared to leave the theatre underwhelmed and disappointed. That did not happen, though.

Vince Vaughn and Tom Wilkinson were amusing in their roles and they seemed to get things more right than wrong when it came to delivery and to timing. The character of their simple sidekick was more than a bit annoying, but it was good to see that the characters played by Vaughn and Wilkinson cut him a lot of slack. In short, this is a better movie than many IMDb amateur reviewers would have you believe.

I found myself chuckling more than a few times, laughing at their antics and the absurdity of it all. This was a charming and amusing film in the end. If I were to guess, then some of the reviewers here may have felt discomfort over the depictions of drinking, drug use, and sexuality in this picture. So it goes. Recommended viewing for the non-church going set.

Vince Vaughn has a long history of playing the lovable loser, and quite frankly he does it well. He's non-threatening, not charismatic enough to be overbearing and has his moments. Here he plays the same character doing the best by his friends and family and (Insert generic Hollywood plot here) By that you may think I didn't enjoy Unfinished Business and that wouldn't be accurate. The problem with Unfinished Business is that its so very very extra-ordinarily cookie cutter. Namely you will know exactly whats coming next and will bring nothing to the table that you haven't seen before......and done better.

Unfinished Business is harmless, Tom Wilkinson is great as always and equally so Dave Franco plays his usual heartbreakingly annoying role.

There are laughs to be had including solid out loud ones for me but the whole thing feels very played out and luck luster.

This is fine as a crash out with the other half when there is nothing better on the box-esque movie, but to go out of your way and watch it? You can do a great deal better.

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If you saw the trailers for this movie like I did and are expecting a non-stop out of control European cocaine and hookers party with the famous motor mouth himself, sadly, that movie does not exist.

However, what does exist is a very light little comedy about some outsiders and weirdos who go to Germany on a business trip. It doesn't have big punchlines and stupid catchphrases and ridiculous orgies. The comedy is character driven, which is smart given that there are a bunch of really good actors in this film. Underneath that lies a very sweetly- natured family dynamic that Vince handles in a realistic and understated way.

It reminds me of Cedar Rapids, in a way, mostly because Hollywood has no idea how to market these low-key character driven comedies. They think people will be bored, and they are right, the Micheal Bay crowd will be bored by this movie and they won't think its funny. But they still haven't figured out that its OK that some people may not like it or think its very funny, every film doesn't have to be Wedding Crashers or Old School, home runs are nice, but so are singles and doubles.

There are problems with this film, the pacing, at times it feels like a student film no one is running, the fact they sandwiched what feels like could have been a pretty believable family movie around this R-rated content, what ever the hell Dave Franco is doing, but somewhere in there is a really good movie, they just couldn't quite make it all work. Then someone decided to market it as Eurotrip 2 with Vince Vaugh and it flopped.

Its probably better than Fred Claus.

Weird that so many people did not like this movie. I suppose if you had high expectations, you would be let down, but other than that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable well constructed comedy. At least a 7.2

The punch lines and comedy came off as low key and sort of anti-climactic, but I thought that gave it a greater sense of realism. I saw the IMDb ratings, and set my expectations low, and then looked for the redeeming qualities of the film, sometimes that's all it takes to get more out of it than the high-expectation crowd.

The main character suffers one realistic defeat after another, and sometimes that's how life goes. That sense of exhaustion from trying was clearly pervasive throughout the film, but the main character keeps chugging along and does not give in to the adversity he faces. To me, it created a compelling every day sort of comedy that was accessible and portrayed by fun characters.

There is some gratuitous nudity & lewdness that detracts in some ways from the film, but being thick skinned, it really did not bother me at all. Bullying is a surface theme, but really it's "being there" for your fiends and family that is the real message and the bullying is sort of mentioned as a mechanism to show adversity and rising above it with the people we love. What's not to like about that? Bunch of "nose in the air" stiffs didn't get it, so what.

Very watchable "b" comedy that does not try and over-achieve. Good movie for a quiet evening where you don't want to think too much. Anyone can highbrow this film and put it down, but it has tangible qualities that do not make it and idiotic "dumb & dumber" type film.

This film tells the story of a man who impulsively decides to start his own company, because he refuses to take a 5% pay cut from his boss. He hires a makeshift team of two, and together they try to win a contract against his former employer.

"Unfinished Business" is clearly a popcorn film that I'll forget about in a few months. It has a rather silly story, with characters that are quite inept. They keep running into unlikely scenarios, such as going to a gay festival and living in a reality art. I guess that is part of the fun. I think Dave Franco's character stands out the most, because his character is intellectually challenged, and yet he keeps a positive attitude towards life. I think "Unfinished Business" provides adequate brain-off entertainment.