In the summer of 2021, in the middle of the ongoing pandemic, 20th Century Studios found themselves with an unexpected hit on their hands: the raunchy comedy “Vacation Friends,” directed by Clay Tarver, starring Lil Rel Howery, John Cena, Yvonne Orji, and Meredith Hagner. Originally shot for a theatrical release, “Vacation Friends” was relegated to Hulu that summer, but it was welcome comedy relief at the end of August.
Audiences seemed to love it, and so must have Hulu’s algorithm because “Vacation Friends 2” was promptly greenlit. Now, with everyone returning, the sequel is coming back for another late August release.
“Vacation Friends 2” reunites writer-director Clay Tarver with its leads John Cena, Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji, and Meredith Hagner, and it adds new co-stars Carlos Santos, Ronny Chieng, Jamie Hector, and Steve Buscemi. Produced by Todd Garner and Stuart Besser, “Vacation Friends 2” debuts on August 25 exclusively as a Hulu Original in the U.S. and internationally as an Original on Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other territories.
Here’s the official synopsis, but essentially, it picks up a few months later with the black couple of the original (Howery and Orji) inviting their white crazy friends (Cena and Hagner) on another vacation trip despite the insanity of their first unintended getaway together.
Picking up a few months after the end of “Vacation Friends,” this uproarious sequel finds newly married couple Marcus (Howery) and Emily (Orji) inviting their uninhibited besties Ron (Cena) and Kyla (Hagner), who are also newly married and have a baby, to join them for a vacation when Marcus lands an all-expenses-paid trip to a Caribbean resort. His reason for traveling there in the first place is to meet with the owners of the resort to bid on a construction contract for a hotel they own in Chicago. But when Kyla’s incarcerated father Reese (Buscemi), is released from San Quentin and shows up at the resort unannounced at the worst possible moment, things get out of control, upending Marcus’ best-laid plans and turning the vacation friends’ perfect trip into total chaos.
“Vacation Friends 2” hits Hulu on August 25. Watch the new trailer below.