72 Hours (2026)
Directed by: Tim Story
Premise: A middle-aged marketing executive (Kevin Hart) is accidentally invited to a bachelor party attended by a group of twenty-year-old friends. Over the course of the weekend they get into trouble, including crossing a local drug dealer.
What Works: A lot of bachelor party movies are about a group of friends whose relationship is tested over the course of a boozy weekend. The best part of 72 Hours, indeed the only part of it that really works at all, is the relationship between the core group of twenty-year olds. It’s believable that these guys would be friends. It’s become popular to ridicule Generation Z’s supposed emotional fragility. 72 Hours has some fun with this but the filmmakers steer away from caricature. The young men have issues with confidence and maturity but they are generally credible. That’s especially true of Mason Gooding as the groom. Gooding has a way of playing emotionally intelligent characters and projecting earnestness without becoming cringy.
What Doesn’t: The character who does not work at all in 72 Hours is the middle-aged man played by Kevin Hart. The whole joke of the movie is this older man trying to keep up with a crowd half his age. It’s not funny. The whole film is bereft of humor. The old man jokes are cringy and lame. The big running gag is the way Hart’s character transforms when he uses illicit substances. Kevin Hart’s Scarface impression is as imaginative as the movie gets. Bachelor party movies usually have a bacchanalian spirit but 72 Hours is weirdly neutered. These men are loosed in Miami for a bachelor weekend but the most outrageous thing in the movie is the memes these guys send one another in a chat. There is no madness or wantonness. Like a lot of Netflix comedies, 72 Hours is conflict adverse. The set up suggests that the generations will learn from each other. Hart’s character is supposed to be inspired by this young man’s commitment to his fiancé and the younger guys are supposed to learn to have a good time. That would be cliché but at least it would have been something.72 Hours is a big nothing. Hart’s character doesn’t teach anybody to be fun. He’s an obnoxious drag to be around and it becomes increasingly inexplicable why the young men don’t ditch him. The tensions between the friends never really boil over. The middle of the movie consists of a series of disconnected episodes that don’t amount to anything.
Disc extras: Available on Netflix.
Bottom Line: Like so many Netflix comedies, 72 Hours is bland and unfunny. It’s full of lame midlife crisis jokes and the filmmakers are unwilling to do anything spicy or interesting.
Episode: #1110 (August 2, 2026)