Lil Rel Howery in ‘Vacation Friends’ Proves He’s Ready to Lead His Own Film

Has anyone else noticed the fact that Lil Rel Howery has been crushing it in every movie role he’s in recently? And also the fact that Lil Rel Howery has been in a lot of movie roles recently? In the year 2021 alone, he’s been the voice of a shoulder devil and angel in Tom & Jerry, pranked unsuspecting civilians with Eric Andre in Bad Trip, played Kevin Hart’s best friend in Fatherhood, played Ryan Reynolds’s best friend in Free Guy, and commentated the big game in Space Jam: A New Legacy. Now Howery is playing opposite John Cena in his new raunchy comedy, Vacation Friends, which began streaming on Hulu in the U.S. today.

Again—all of the above movies came out this year. And Howery has been absolutely hilarious in all of them. So the question is: Why don’t the Hollywood big wigs just give Howery the lead role already?

Howery arguably is the lead in Vacation Friends—which is basically Wedding Crashers meets The Hangover—and yet WWE star John Cena, who’s also had a great year, received top billing on the Vacation Friends credits and promotional material. But the film is firmly from Howery’s perspective as Marcus, an anxious construction site owner who’s planned the perfect proposal to his girlfriend Emily (Yvonne Orji) while on vacation. But thanks to a hotel snafu, Emily and Marcus end up crashing with a wild couple, Ron and Kyla (Cena and Meredith Hagner), and spend the night partying with them.

Cue the party montage featuring drugs, wrecked sailboats, impromptu marriages, and head wounds. It’s one wild and crazy night, and when it’s over, Marcus and Emily nurse their hangovers, catch a flight, and return to their normal lives. …Until, that is, Ron and Kyla decide to crash Marcus and Emily’s very bougie wedding. Chaos ensues, lifelong friendships are eventually made, and Howery learns how to finally loosen up a bit, even when he’s not on vacation.

Cena and Hagner are, of course, very funny as the reckless partiers, but I’d argue Howery and Orji have the more difficult task of being both the “straight men” and still being funny. But they pull it off beautifully. Howery, in particular, is hysterical, whether he’s assuring Cena that he can still feel the wind, despite not having flowing hair—”I can feel it on my face”—or simply saying hello to his fiancé’s elderly grandmother. It takes a truly gifted comedian to make a line as simple as “hi” so freakin’ hilarious, but the harsh, abrupt tone of Howery’s delivery had me in stitches.

Howery’s been going above and beyond in supporting roles for years, perhaps most memorably as the world’s most heroic TSA agent in Jordan Peele’s horror-comedy, Get Out. It’s refreshing to see him as the co-lead in buddy films like Bad Trip, and now Vacation Friends, but I want even more.

If the comedian’s 2021 résumé has proved anything, it’s that Howery is more than ready to carry a movie as the sole lead. Give the man a comedy lead role! Or a romantic dramedy where he falls in love and discovers something intrinsic about himself! Hell, give the man a Marvel movie, Chris Pratt-style. Now that would be a Marvel Phase 5 I would like to see.

Watch Vacation Friends on Hulu