Critic Reviews

This is a raucous, happily irresponsible party that should help locked-in, bottled-up Americans release some steam. The only downside to its being released when we need laughs so desperately is that this is just the kind of pic that becomes several times as funny when seen in a packed theater.

Of course with this kind of film, not every joke lands. You’re hoping for a good proportion — more hits than misses. The ratio isn’t quite as high as you’d like with The Binge, but it’s close enough.

The Binge is as ridiculous as its premise implies, which can be fun at times, while others it's a bit like a wild ride you wish you could get off.

A tedious and only occasionally amusing comedic riff on “The Purge” franchise.

If the premise sounds more fun than the execution, that’s because The Binge doesn’t seem to recognize how or why people indulge in such substances to begin with, treating intoxication as the punchline rather than the setup for what should have been a more subversive satire.

The whole affair is just nuts, staggeringly irresponsible.

If The Purge cynically saw humans as itching to unleash their pent-up violence, The Binge recognizes us all as horny nitwit fratboys at heart who need an excuse to cut loose.

Even the occasional funny line grows wearying, because nothing in this movie happens for any real reason. The details that labor to appear random, the big slapstick plot turns, and the predetermined character arcs are all equally meaningless, unchecked byproducts of filmmakers emptying their joke files with Superbad playing on a loop in the background.

Take the “smart” out of “Booksmart,” the “super” out of “Superbad” and the edge out of “The Purge,” and you get the Hulu movie The Binge, one of the worst comedies of this or any other year, notable only because it features what might just be the most terrible performance in Vince Vaughn’s up-and-down career, and I say that with no glee because I’m a Vince Vaughn guy.

Here’s an equation for third-period math: Take “Superbad,” “Booksmart,” and, hell, any teen-party movie, add in a useless overarching conceit, subtract all originality. The result is The Binge, a new Hulu original that is only exceptional in its mind-numbing inanity.