Sadly, this summer it seems to have been a challenge to try and find a good comedy…disappointment seems to be the norm, and anything mediocre or above is practically a gem. Rough Night is, unfortunately, another disappointment, despite the proven comedic talents assembled in front of and behind the camera.

It’s Jess’ (Scarlett Johansson) bachelorette party, so she and her college friends (Ilana Glazer, Jillian Bell, Zoe Kravitz and Kate McKinnon) head to Miami for the weekend. The usual bachelorette-party-movie antics ensue (drugs, clubs, strippers), but suddenly the weekend takes a turn for the worst when the stripper is accidentally killed, and the women have to try and hide the body.

This is a painfully predictable venture. It is not only a rehash of several different (and much better) films that have come before it, but you can see every beat coming from miles away, and the film doesn’t give you much hope that it might actually not be quite as obvious as it appears.

It is also plainly unfunny. It does manage to get some laughs, but the number of jokes that land (no matter how wobbly that landing is) is far outweighed by those that don’t. Some jokes you’ll notice but just won’t find funny, at other times it is obvious in the film that this is a point at which you should laugh, but you may not be able to even find what was supposed to be the joke. The talented cast do their best with what they’re given, McKinnon steals most of the scenes, but there isn’t much there for them to do anything with.

With the Broad City team behind the camera, perhaps something other than a bland studio comedy could have been expected. Maybe there was a funnier film inside this, perhaps indicated by the original title Move That Body which at least has some thought and character over the vague and unmemorable one the film ended up with. Either way, it seems as though Lucia Aniello wasn’t sure how to handle the film tonally – it shifts wildly and is never quite sure what it wants to be – which causes an unevenness that prevents the film from even coasting along on atmosphere.

To say there are no laughs in the film would be a lie, even if by the end you are laughing more at than with the film, but one of the film’s biggest positives is its clearly female influence. You can tell this was a comedy about women made by women due to the way they speak, discuss things with eachother, and certain references which feel authentic instead of heavy-handed and forced in like they often are when a film about women is approached with a male gaze.

It feels as though there could have been a much better and funnier film made from this concept (even if it did heavily borrow from previous features), but sadly Rough Night just lands as another comedy flop this summer. It manages a few laughs, and isn’t unbearable, but is nowhere near funny or even consistent enough to coast steadily through.