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When I first tuned into Vince Vaughn’s latest film on Hulu, Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, I certainly didn’t anticipate encountering an insightful and humorous critique of the notorious Netflix season of Gilmore Girls. Yet, this is precisely one of the standout comedic moments the movie delivers.
Crafted by BenDavid Grabinski and produced by Andrew Lazar, the film features Vaughn as Nick and James Marsden as Mike, a pair of criminals entangled with a mobster’s operations. Eiza González takes on the role of Alice, Nick’s wife, who is secretly involved with Mike. The plot revolves around their attempt to exonerate Mike, who is falsely accused of being an informant responsible for the mob boss’s son, played hilariously by Jimmy Tatro, landing in jail. The twist? The Nick trying to rescue Mike is from the future, while the present-day Nick risks derailing his plans.
Ultimately, Future Nick, alongside Mike and Alice, succeeds in convincing Present Nick to join their scheme to clear Mike’s name. As part of their strategy, they end up waiting, which leads to a conversation about Alice’s beloved show, Gilmore Girls. Mike confesses to binge-watching all 157 episodes in just two weeks and shares some divisive thoughts on Rory’s love life.
“Jess is alright; he’s charming,” Mike admits to Alice, who is fervently Team Jess. “But Rory deserves better. I’m not saying he’s the worst boyfriend—that title belongs to Dean.”
Alice retorts, “No, Logan is the worst boyfriend,” sparking a lively debate.
Then Mike drops a real doozy: “Logan’s the best boyfriend on the show.”
Nick’s response to this is absolutely appropriate when he says, “Logan? What the fuck, Mike.”
I admit that Mike’s argument is not unreasonable, when he states that Logan and Rory have a lot in common, ie; they’re both spoiled. But Rory? Spoiled?
Mike has an argument for that, too: “Her grandparents paid for Chilton!”
“And when her grandparents offered to pay for Yale, her grandparents insisted that it be a fucking loan, Mike!” Nick fires back.
“All these arguments about who’s right for Rory are a waste of time anyway,” Mike says eventually, ending the bickering. “She doesn’t end up with any of these guys. She’s single and pregnant at the end.”
This is news to Present Nick, who hasn’t yet watched Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, a four-episode mini season released by Netflix in 2016, set ten years after the season finale.
“Wait a second… it ends with Rory being single and pregnant?”
“Oh yeah… that’s in the Netflix episodes,” Alice chimes. You can tell by her tone of voice she does not think much of the Netflix sequel. “Yeah I guess it’s clever to make Rory a single mother, just like Lorelai but… it’s not a good ending.”
At this point, the conversation returns to the actual plot of the movie, but that was basically a full three minutes—which means roughly three full screenplay pages—of Gilmore Girl analysis. Not only is it delightful and hilarious, it’s also correct: It’s not a good ending.