Film
Rough Night
A bachelorette weekend in Miami curdles into disaster when five old college friends accidentally kill a stripper and spend the rest of the night frantically covering it up. It's raunchy, fast, and genuinely gruesome in places, powered by a game ensemble willing to go dark. Best for people who want their girls'-trip comedy with a body count attached.
If you liked this
Girls Trip2017
The other great 2017 female-friendship comedy, and arguably the funnier one — huge set pieces, real chemistry, and a cast clearly having the time of their lives.
But Much lower stakes overall — no crime plot, no cover-up, just pure raunchy comedy without the thriller undertow.
Bridesmaids2011
The gold standard for this genre — raunchy, chaotic, and unexpectedly moving underneath all the humiliation and cake-eating.
But Grounded in wedding-planning anxiety rather than crime; if you came for the dark turn, this stays resolutely earthbound.
The Hangover2009
The male mirror image — a wild night, a mystery to piece back together, escalating chaos, and a tiger in a bathroom instead of a body.
But Swaps death for amnesia, so the stakes feel gentler, and some of the humor has aged unevenly.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
A Simple Plan1998
Same structural engine as Rough Night — accidental death plus panicked cover-up unraveling a group of friends — but run through tragedy instead of farce, showing you the other side of the same coin.
Sam Raimi takes the exact same premise — ordinary people, one bad decision, a body to hide — and plays it dead straight as a slow-burning tragedy about guilt eating a friendship alive.
But Bleak, patient, and offers none of the comic relief you'd expect; this is a morality play, not a caper.
More like this (8)
Very Bad Things1998
The film's true spiritual ancestor — a bachelor party, an accidental death, a spiraling cover-up, and friendships disintegrating in real time.
But Meaner and nastier than Rough Night, with a late-90s edgelord streak and almost no redemption at the end.
Weekend at Bernie's1989no page yet
The corpse-comedy classic — two guys dragging a dead body around a beach house for laughs, absurd and shameless in the best way.
But Cartoonishly broad and dated; there's no character depth here, just a very committed premise.
Blockers2018
Same raunchy-but-warmhearted energy, with a chaotic overnight adventure and an ensemble that balances gross-out humor with real feeling.
But It's a parent-teen story, not a friend-group crisis, and there's no crime plot to raise the stakes.
Game Night2018
Ordinary people get pulled into escalating, very real danger through what starts as a fun bit — sharp, funny, and genuinely tense in places.
But Married-couples ensemble rather than old college friends, and considerably less raunchy throughout.
Neighbors2014no page yet
Gross-out chaos escalating scene by scene, with real affection buried under all the pranks and property destruction.
But Frat-versus-family conflict rather than a friend-group crisis, and a different, more juvenile comic register.
Booksmart2019
A riotous one-crazy-night friendship comedy with real heart and some of the best set pieces of its decade.
But Much sweeter and lower-stakes — teenage protagonists, no crime, no cover-up, just pure joyful chaos.
The Trouble with Harry1955
The exact same joke — a body nobody wants and everybody has to deal with — told nearly seventy years earlier, proving this comic engine is far older than it looks.
Hitchcock's droll black comedy about a small New England town trying to figure out what to do with an inconveniently dead body, decades before corpse-disposal became a comedy staple.
But Genteel, slow, and thoroughly of its era — nothing raunchy or frantic, just wry understatement.
Search Party2016
Identical DNA to Rough Night — friends, an accidental death, a fracturing cover-up — but given hours instead of one wild night to mutate into something stranger.
A millennial friend group gets tangled in a death and its cover-up, stretched across a mystery-comedy series that gets darker, weirder, and more paranoid with every season.
But A slow-burn format demanding real patience, and the tone drifts unpredictably from comedy into something much bleaker.
People
Cast
Jillian BellAlice
Zoë KravitzBlair
Ilana GlazerFrankie
Kate McKinnonPippa
Paul W. DownsPeter
Ryan CooperJay
Ty BurrellPietro
Demi MooreLea
Enrique MurcianoDetective Ruiz
Dean WintersDetective Frazier
Colton HaynesReal Scotty
Directing
- Lucia AnielloDirector
- Julie A. BloomFirst Assistant Director
- Jessica LichtnerScript Supervisor
- Vincent GiarratanoSecond Assistant Director
Writing
- Lucia AnielloWriter
- Paul W. DownsWriter
Production
- Jeanne McCarthyCasting
- Rori BergmanCasting
- Ben WaisbrenExecutive Producer
- Matthew HirschExecutive Producer
- Dave BeckyProducer
- Lucia AnielloProducer
- Matt TolmachProducer
- Paul W. DownsProducer
- David Van DykeProduction Manager
- Jonathan ShoemakerUnit Production Manager