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Mar 16, 2026 11:51am PT ‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’ Review: Vince Vaughn is Double Trouble in Highly Diverting Action Comedy A gangster actually looks forward to doing time when allowed to revisit a life of regret in BenDavid Grabinski’s spirited time travel shoot-em-up. By Stephen Saito Plus Icon Stephen Saito Latest ‘The Fox’ Review: Jai Courtney-Emily Browning Dark Comedy Has Bite 14 hours ago ‘Kill Me’ Review: Charlie Day Cracks a Case That Could Break Him in Disarming Black Comedy 2 days ago ‘Hijra’ Review: A Disappearance Reveals a Society’s Strictures in Potent Saudi Drama 3 months ago See All SXSW Given his line of work as a hitman, Quick Draw Mike (James Marsden) should probably have a better idea of what chloroform is than he does. But in “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice,” when Nick (Vince Vaughn) asks him before embarking on a job whether he’s seen any of the many movies the sedative has been used in, it’s a reminder that those type of thrillers haven’t been in style in recent years. Writer-director BenDavid Grabinski makes a strong case to change that in an exuberant time travel genre-bender where what’s old often leads to fresh ideas. Vaughn plays both a present and future version of Nick, who is enlisting Quick Draw Mike to help him take down himself while there’s still time to prevent one of the biggest mistakes in his life. Related Stories Oscilloscope Buys Robert Petit's 'Underland' Documentary, Narrated by Sandra Hüller and Produced by Darren Aronofsky (EXCLUSIVE) Pop culture references may elude Quick Draw Mike, but Grabinski packs them in for those in the middle of the Venn diagram of people who enjoy gunfights and the snappy banter of “Gilmore Girls” (which cleverly comes to serve a major plot point in the film). That’s a potentially narrow subset of the population, but “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” boasts the devil-may-care swagger that proved so broadly appealing for “Deadpool Vs. Wolverine.” That may have been the best thing to come out of the Disney/20th Century merger before an ebullient opening title sequence for this 20th production where Grabinski finds use for Billy Joel’s “Oliver and Company” hit “Why Should I Worry?” to underscore the development of a time machine by a scientist name Symon (Ben Schwartz) who does more than whistle while he works. The music may stop when he dies in a hail of bullets, but the filmmaker ensures the beat never lets up as the action starts to center on Nick, who held the debt for Symon to build his machine in the first place. The inventor was a friend of his wife Alice (Eiza González) and found himself able to pick a moment from his past that he’d want to revisit when he came around to collect. Popular on Variety Grabinski is more interested in three-card monty than quantum mechanics as “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” unfolds when Nick picks a crazy night where mounting misunderstandings were going to lead to Mike’s death. Energy propels the film forward a bit more than the plot when the exact reasons why Nick feels compelled to spare Mike have to remain shrouded in mystery. All that’s clear is that Sosa (Keith David), a criminal kingpin, comes to believe Mike is responsible for his son Jimmy Boy’s (Jimmy Tatro) six-year prison stretch and he’d like to have a gift ready for his release. The event involves no less than three after-parties, and the film bounces between Nick’s future self and Mike trying to prevent Present Nick from serving him up on a silver platter to Sosa while Jimmy Boy is busy enjoying his newfound freedom to its debauched fullest. However, Future Nick is in fact a wiser Nick. When he comes clean about what’s driving him, which is particularly surprising in light of the fact that Mike is having a affair with Alice, the film reveals an unexpected tender core when he sees stopping Present Nick from his impulsiveness is less about changing the course of history than saving himself and others some eventual and unnecessary heartache. Vaughn, who showed before a rare ability bring gravitas to a high-concept thrillers that might be hard to swallow otherwise when he did the body swap horror comedy “Freaky,” has a ball in the dual role. Marsden and González make their suave movie star turns look easy, looking comfortable wielding weapons of any sort from an arsenal that ranges from wicked smirks, and killer one-liners to plenty of guns. There are too many of the latter to count as the evening wears on, yielding a shootout at Sosa’s estate that really comes alive due to all the elements at play, from Grabinski’s impressive balancing of multiple story threads to Isabelle Guay’s production design that mixes eras and colors. The reliably muscular cinematography of “Kong: Skull Island” director of photography Larry Fong is also a highlight, though the occasional desire to mimic the step-printing stutter shot popularized by Wong Kar-wai is one of the film’s slight missteps when it moves beyond a loving nod to an inconsistent part of the cinematic language. However, with its many references, “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” takes a cue from its lead character Nick, who sees the past as something to build on rather than recycle, and ends up delivering quite a good time. Jump to Comments ‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’ Review: Vince Vaughn is Double Trouble in Highly Diverting Action Comedy Reviewed at SXSW, March 14, 2026. (Headliner). Running time: 107 MIN. Production: A 20th Century Studios Presentation of a Mad Chance Production. Producer: Andrew Lazar. Executive producers: Richard Middleton, Vanessa Humphrey. Crew: Director, writer: BenDavid Grabinski. Camera: Larry Fong. Editor: Tim Squyres. Production design: Isabelle Guay. Costume design: Stephanie Porter. Music: Joseph Trapanese. With: Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza González, Keith David, Jimmy Tatro, Stephen Root, Lewis Tan, Ben Schwartz, Emily Hampshire, Arturo Castro Korea Box Office: ‘The King’s Warden’ Stays No. 1 as ‘Humint’ Opens Wide Should Jacob Elordi Play Heathcliff? 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