“Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice”, which was released on Disney+ in South Korea on last Friday, is a fairly entertaining mix of comedy, action, and a bit of time travel. While its science fiction element turns out to be a mere story premise to my little disappointment, the movie compensates for that weak aspect with a number of good moments to amuse or excite you, and I will not deny that I chuckled more than once during my viewing.

At the beginning, we are introduced to several main characters in the story one by one. Nick (Vince Vaughan) is a member of some powerful criminal organization, and we see him and his wife Alice (Eiza González) attending a party celebrating the recent release of Jimmy Boy (Jimmy Tatro), who is the only son of Nick’s boss and was incarcerated in prison during last several years. It is apparent to us right from the beginning that there is not much affection between Nick and his wife, and we also sense that something is going on between Alice and Quick Draw Mike (James Marsden), who is incidentally a close colleague of Nick.

Not so surprisingly, it eventually turns out that Alice and Mike have been deeply involved with each other for a while, but then there comes a very unexpected surprise. Nick suddenly appears when Mike is waiting for his rendezvous with Alice, and, what do you know, it is eventually revealed that this Nick is not actually that Nick whom Mike and Alice saw at that party. This Nick is actually from 6 months later, and he comes for preventing something bad for not only himself but also Alice and Mike.

As already shown from the prologue part of the film, Future Nick uses a time machine which was incidentally made by an inventor friend of Alice, who borrowed a lot of money from Present Nick for financing this private science project of his. Unfortunately, Future Nick accidentally destroyed that time machine shortly after his arrival in the past, so there is only one chance for preventing what is going to happen sooner or later.

What Future Nick wants to prevent right now is this: the death of Mike. Their boss is very angry at whoever is responsible for his son’s six-year incarceration, and he becomes quite certain that Mike is the one who informed the police on his son. As a matter of fact, he already hired a certain notorious killer, and it is Present Nick’s job to deliver Mike to that killer in question.

While it does take some time for Mike and Alice to believe Future Nick, they and Future Nick eventually work together on persuading Present Nick to assist Future Nick’s plan, and that turns out to be a bit more difficult than expected due to the complicated situation among these four characters. For example, Present Nick and Future Nick do not trust each other that much, and the former still feels rather sour about Mike and Alice’s relationship, though he and Alice have stopped caring about each other for a while.

As the screenplay by director/writer BenDavid Grabinski, who previously made a feature film debut with “Happily” (2021), expectedly goes through several ups and downs along with its main characters, we are served with a series of humorous moments which inject more comic momentum into the story. Thanks to the game efforts from its three main cast members, many of the key scenes among their characters are presented with smooth and precise coming timing, and this is especially exemplified well by the increasingly ridiculous conversation scene in the middle of the story. Believe me, even if you have not watched a certain classic American TV comedy series (Full Disclosure: Neither have I), you will still get enough laughs from this wry comic moment.

During the last act, the movie shifts its gear onto action mode, and that is where it becomes less fun than before. At least, we get a well-executed action sequence which often shows some sense of humor amid lots of brutal physical actions. A certain frequent stylistic touch reminiscent of the works of Wong Kar-wai feels rather redundant, but this surely shows that Grabinski and his crew are willing to try anything for more fun and amusement.

The three main cast members of the film are solid as ably balancing their characters between humor and sincerity. Vince Vaughn deftly goes back and forth between his two roles with some subtle nuances to notice, and that is the main reason why the respective character arcs of his two characters work with some unexpected poignancy later in the story. Around Vaughn, James Marden and Eiza González have each own comic moment to shine, and we actually come to care about their characters more than expected.

In case of several other notable cast members, they bring some extra humor to the movie. While Keith David delightfully chews every moment of his as the jolly but ruthless criminal boss, Jimmy Tatro, Emily Hampshire, Arturo Castro, Lewis Tan, Ben Schwartz, and Stephen Root are well-cast in their respective supporting parts, and you will also be amused a little by a brief surprise appearance by a recognizable performer during one particular key scene. In addition, there is also a very cute little cat, and, if you like cats as much as I do, I sincerely recommend you to wait till the end credits are over.

On the whole, “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” is a typical genre mix which may not surprise you that much, but it is still an enjoyable genre exercise to be savored for several good reasons including the game efforts from the main cast members. It does not exceed my expectation, but it succeeds as much as intended, so I will not complain for now.