Teaming up again with his Delivery Man director Ken Scott, Vince Vaughn trades in his recent run of safe comedies with something much, much cruder with Unfinished Business. Vaughn plays Daniel Trunkman, a troubled small business owner who, along with his two only employees (Tom Wilkinson and Dave Franco), travel to Berlin to close an all important deal. But the minute they step off the plane, it’s clear that this routine business trip will be anything but. There is something charmingly old school about Unfinished Business’ story, as one unfortunate incident bleeds into another (in a perfect world, this would have been National Lampoon’s Business Trip), but when it comes down to it, the movie is just an incredibly bland affair.
Wasting no time in getting the story up and running, Unfinished Business drops us into a movie already in progress, as Vaughn’s confrontation with his former boss Chuck (Sienna Miller) sets everything in motion, and we’re introduced to all the key players in pretty short order. But in getting us into the story straight away, Scott and screen writer Steven Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) sacrifice vital character beats, meaning we never really get to know Dan and his co-workers, rendering their escapades, while fun, meaningless. The story just seems to jump from one ‘crazy’ situation to another, ranging from a business meeting held in a co-ed steam room to an awkward encounter in the mens room of a gay bar, all leading to a finale held at the G-8 summit. It does try to deliver the laughs, and succeeds most of the time, but they get increasingly more desperate and scatter shot as the movie marches on, with any character development seemingly put to the wayside for a another scene of Franco’s Mike Pancake (be under no doubt that this joke name is milked for all its worth) getting unbelievably drunk, or Wilkinson’s Timothy trying his best at playing away. The guy’s shenanigans do move at a good pace, but they are waylaid on more than one occasion by attempts to inject some heart, usually involving Dan’s attempts to juggle being a father while running a struggling business.
At this stage in his career, Vaughn has become to comedies what Liam Neeson has to action movies, recycling the same character with each role, but to his credit, he is still incredibly charming, and does a great job of keeping Unfinished Business on track. His name is at above the credits on the poster, so he gets most of the screen time and character development, which is a shame as his co-leads show a lot of promise, especially Franco, whose dim witted schtick promises to develop in something more heart felt that never materialises. The trio spark off each other nicely, and its this chemistry that keeps the movie ticking over. The supporting cast, including Miller and James Marsden, aren’t really given much to do, with the exception of Nick Frost, who threatens to steal quite a few scenes whenever he is on screen.
Unfinished Business hits quite a few stumbling blocks during its run time, but still manages to deliver a fun, if ultimately forgettable, comedy.
