By: Kimberly Grant
Is art imitating life? First The Odyssey gave us important themes, including feminism and the wrong things men do during a war. Now, we’ve got Netflix’s 72 Hours.
Funny Bachelors Hit The Beach
On the surface, 72 Hours comes off as another bachelor party film for the Generation Z crowd. Adding Kevin Hart as Joe, the Unc of the group, helps the film to really examine masculinity in a way that’s truthful and hilarious.
Joe is a marketing executive who is being challenged at work, because he’s aged out of being relevant at 40 years old. (Note: Being 40 years old does not make anyone irrelevant. It just means that person has different life goals.) As Joe is trying to figure out how to regain his swagger as a marketing exec, he accidentally gets invited to a bachelor party and decides to take the 20-something men up on their offer…in order to monetize their youth for a brand campaign.
While at this bachelor weekend in Miami, Joe meets groom-to-be Mason (Mason Gooding), best man Nick (Marcello Hernández), post-break-up Hunter (Ben Marshall), and Freshman (Kam Patterson). During these 72 hours, the men get up to stereotypical Miami party hijinks that include crashing a drug dealer’s yacht party and getting robbed while keeping the audience in laughter. (Note: This film takes place in a sliver of Miami Beach where the tourists like to frequent and doesn’t fully represent my home town.)
The Art of Masculinity
It’s easy to write off all men as being a part of the Manosphere and as incels. 72 Hours shows them in a different light and reminds us that the few don’t represent all. For instance, Mason actually loves his wife-to-be and is excited to be a good partner to her. Nick, on the other hand, spends a lot of the movie acting like an incel when really, he’s just scared of losing his best friend. Joe is clearly afraid to commit to his girlfriend Jennifer (Teyana Taylor) and refuses to grow up.
Hunter is love sick over his ex-girlfriend, but doesn’t bad-mouth her. I know that sounds like nothing, but in today’s world where men openly bash women, it’s refreshing to see that he’s feeling his feels without letting anger get the best of him. (Note: The bar has clearly been set low.) The men even take opportunities to talk about how they feel. They’re young and evolved.
Light-hearted Fun
All serious themes aside, 72 Hours is a fun and funny movie with the typical situation comedy you can expect from a bachelor party movie. It’s not meant to be overly serious, just make you laugh for a little while. There are hilarious cameos by Mike Epps, Katt Williams, and Andy Garcia, where it’s obvious they had fun making the film. You’ll have to watch it to see what I mean.
The story, written by Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Kevin Burrows, feels like The Hangover for a new generation. Director Tim Story, who is no stranger to directing funny movies that make you think, has a hit on his hands. The film lovingly pokes fun at what it means to be masculine in our current climate without the audience feeling overwhelmed with it. And, it’s going to make you laugh until your tummy hurts.
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