'Vacation Friends', A Comedy Starring John Cena And Lil Rel Howery, Is Heading To Hulu This Summer

If you've been jonesing for a new John Cena comedy (F9 does not count, despite that franchise's comical relationship with physics), the wait is almost over. Not only is Cena set to co-star in James Gunn's comedically inclined superhero film The Suicide Squad in August, but that same month he will also be part of the ensemble cast of Vacation Friends, a new movie that also features Lil Rel Howery (Get Out, Bad Trip), Yvonne Orji (Night School, Insecure), and Meredith Hagner (Palm Springs, Search Party). Learn more about the upcoming comedy below.

Vacation Friends Synopsis

Here is the official synopsis for Vacation Friends, which was revealed today 20th Century Studios:

In this raw and raunchy comedy, straight-laced Marcus and Emily (Howery, Orji) are befriended by wild, thrill-seeking partiers Ron and Kyla (Cena, Hagner) at a resort in Mexico. Living in the moment, the usually level-headed couple lets loose to enjoy a week of uninhibited fun and debauchery with their new "vacation friends." Months after their walk on the wild side, Marcus and Emily are horrified when Ron and Kyla show up uninvited at their wedding, creating chaos and proving that what happens on vacation, doesn't necessarily stay on vacation.

That sounds a lot like What About Bob?, only with an outrageous couple instead of Bill Murray. That makes sense: it would be difficult for any single person to be able to replicate the manic energy of Murray from that movie. Robert Wisdom (The Alienist), Andrew Bachelor (The Babysitter), and Lynn Whitfield (Greenleaf) round out the cast.

Who Are The Creatives Behind Vacation Friends?

Tom and Tim Mullen are a pair of screenwriting brothers who wrote the initial version of this script, which was initially acquired way back in 2014 for Chris Pratt and Anna Farris to star. Those actors have since fallen away from the project, and it sounds like more work has been done to the script, too: the Mullen brothers are both still credited as writers, but they're now joined by Clay Tarver and the writing duo of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Game Night, DC's upcoming The Flash).

In addition to serving as one of the writers, Tarver is also directing Vacation Friends. He previously wrote the 2001 horror movie Joy Ride, and more recently served as a writer, producer, and director for HBO's tech-parody comedy series Silicon Valley.

Vacation Friends will be the first 20th Century Studios movie to receive a simultaneous global release on the Hulu and Disney+ platforms: it will appear as a Hulu Original in the United States, and as a Star Original on Disney+ in certain international markets. The movie will be available to stream starting on August 27, 2021.