The goon, his clone, the rat, and his lover
In 1976, Elaine May released Mikey and Nicky, a searing New Hollywood crime drama about two men on the run from a hitman across one long night, one of whom has betrayed the mob, one of whom has secretly betrayed his friend. It’s a small-scale thriller with real generational angst and uncertainty about masculinity at its core, carried by two sensational method performances from a twitchy John Cassavetes and a melancholic Peter Falk.
A half-century later, BenDavid Grabinski watched this movie and thought: You know what this needs? To be a slick action comedy. And it definitely, absolutely needs more time travel. Thus, Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, which is the pleasant surprise of the year for me so far.
Originating as a spec script picked up by 20th Century Studios back in 2023 with Grabinski also directing, the film premiered at SXSW in March and quietly landed on Hulu just a couple weeks later. It might not make my top ten of the year, but among unheralded mid-budget spring releases, this is a real joy, like Drop from last year.
The film follows Quick Draw Mike (James Marsden), a mob trigger-man trying to get out of the business. He happens to be sleeping with Alice (Eiza González), the wife of his best friend Nick (Vince Vaughn). Nick shows up at his door, and pressures him to kill a new target who happens to be… another Nick. The first Nick time-traveled from a few months in the future to undo some damage from the night in question. Mafia kingpin Sosa (Keith David) and his recently-paroled son Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro) have their sights on Mike and Nick as possible snitches, and before long the evening begins to spiral.
The film’s biggest delight is simply its electric energy. It opens with scientist Symon (Ben Schwartz) singing along to “Why Should I Worry” from Oliver and Company while putting some finishing touches on a time machine, and it’s hard to imagine a more delightful microcosm of the film: a lightweight tone, an inspired music choice, a gifted comic actor bringing a sequence to life, capped off with an abrupt, over-the-top splash of violence. It’s the essence of Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice in three opening minutes.
High-concept premises are fun, but they require a deft touch. Linger on the concept and it sabotages the story; bury the concept and it feels shoehorned in. Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice threads the needle gracefully. The time travel is low on exposition (most characters just accept it within a few seconds of being told) but the rules are clear enough and savvily integrated in with the story. The result is a movie that moves at lightning speed, doesn’t talk down to you, and uses its gimmick for the entire runtime without overcooking it.
The screenplay overall is quite strong. I laughed out loud several times. But the structural storytelling is what most impressed me: a couple of the twists are predictable, but the timing and method of each reveal are almost always clever. Underneath the chaos is a surprisingly moving premise: a man traveling back in time to undo his own cruelty toward a friend. It gives the zaniness some real stakes.
Cast-wise, Marsden is pretty much the best part of every movie he’s in, and he is accordingly excellent here: a little dopey, very cool, comic timing so natural his line readings basically never miss. He has terrific chemistry with everyone. Vaughn, meanwhile, is doing some of the best film work in years, playing two versions of the same character, one conniving and twitchy, one shame-weighted and melancholy. He manages to make them distinct while still feeling like one person (a different haircut helps). You can occasionally catch him acting against the empty space where his copy will be added in post, but he has more than enough presence and line delivery to cover.
The revelation, though, is González. I haven’t seen her in this big of a role before, but I very much hope I will again. She’s funny, endearing, she holds her own in the set pieces, and, I cannot lie, she is eye-poppingly gorgeous. But this is not an eye candy situation; Alice is an active participant in unwinding the plots against Mike and Nick, and González plays her with tremendous poise and confidence; I hope she gets to step into a proper star vehicle soon. If she ever breaks out big, this is going to get retroactively hailed as a proof-of-concept.
Grabinski and his music department also deserve some kind of medal. The film is stuffed with needle drops that are all pitch-perfect and varied: some are obvious, some cutting against the grain, all of them juicing the energy. Seal, Carole King, Papa Roach, Chemical Brothers, Dave Matthews. I loved them all.
And despite the film’s streaming dump release, parts of the film’s assembly really impressed me. I admired the central effect of doubling the lead actor, which seems to be all the rage recently. The two-Vaughn effect is presumably a mix of clever on-set doubling and post-production work, and it’s convincing to the point that I often forgot there weren’t actually two of him — but it’s not quite as seamless or bold as the visual cloning in Sinners or Mickey 17.
None of this is to say the movie’s perfect. Many of the visual flourishes look straight-up cheap, including a stuttery slo-mo effect in a couple of action scenes that might have read as fresh twenty years ago. I have mixed feelings about some of the jokes, too: the recurring Gilmore Girls references feel like an infringement on James Sweeney’s hyper-specific territory (apparently an entire generation of up-and-coming comic filmmakers was deeply formed by that show) and don’t integrate as organically as some of the other bits.
The biggest complaint I have is that the third act makes too sharp a left turn. The hyper-violent cartoon mayhem is well-realized for the budget, but feels mean-spirited and over-the-top coming off two-thirds of film focused on character, banter, and sharp use of the time travel gimmick. The wit diminishes in favor of a blood orgy, and the movie’s heart gets a little obscured in the smoke.
Still, that’s the cost of doing business as a slick modern action comedy. Grabinski set out to make a galaxy-brained sci-fi-comedy twist on a classic crime with a real emotional engine, a ridiculously deep cast of under-appreciated movie-improvers, and a soundtrack that pops, and he largely pulled it off. Fifty years on from Cassavetes and Falk arguing on a Philadelphia sidewalk, two guys named Mike and Nick are still great company.
Is It Good?
Very Good (6/8)
Dan is the founder and head critic of The Goods. Follow Dan on Letterboxd. Join the Discord for updates and discussion.
One reply on “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice (2026)”
That sounds like a really interesting film to revisit, especially with how things have changed since 1976. The generational anxieties you mentioned seem particularly relevant today.