Last Updated on December 13, 2022

Plot: All drugs and alcohol are illegal except on the day of the Binge. Several years after their first Binge, best friends Hags, Andrew, Sarah, and Kimi face the realities of young adulthood as the annual Binge Day is moved to Christmas Eve. Amidst the chaos, Hags plans a proposal to Sarah while Andrew deals with his rocky relationships with his family and his girlfriend Kimmi. Will they survive this holiday season?

Review: There is something for everyone, of that I am sure. From gifts to music, toys to movies, we live in a wondrous age where whatever you can think of likely exists, and there is an audience for it. Licorice-flavored condoms? Sure, why not. Pistachio mouthwash? Go for it. Salty chocolate balls? You go, Glen Coco. If you like it, I applaud that you are living your best life. But, despite all of those well-wishes, I am not sure who It’s A Wonderful Binge is actually for. Think of Harold and Kumar crossed with Dude, Where’s My Car, and Half-Baked, but take out all of the funny moments and that is what you are left with when you watch this stoner comedy sequel set during the holidays.

Following up on the 2020 comedy The Binge, It’s a Wonderful Binge is set in the near future, where all drugs and alcohol are illegal except on one night of the year. Yes, it is a parody of the long-running horror franchise The Purge, but instead of murder and rape, you have bongs and coked-out owls. The original movie, which featured Vince Vaughn and Skyler Gisondo, was a mess of underdeveloped characters and cheap, low-brow comedy. As someone who loves crass and gross jokes, even I found little to laugh at in the first movie. What it did have going for it were Dexter Darden and Eduardo Franco as Hags and Andrew, two of the trio of main characters. Since the film’s debut, Franco has become popular thanks to his role on Stranger Things which likely will push It’s A Wonderful Binge up in the queues of many viewers. The problem is that the jokes are even weaker this time around than before.

Shifting the annual Binge to Christmas, this sequel follows Andrew and Hags, as well as their girlfriends Kimmi (Marta Piekarz) and Sarah (Zainne Saleh), as they contend with challenges tied to the holiday as well as the available debauchery that night. Hags, planning to propose to Sarah, loses the ring he intends to use and must track it down. Andrew, after a disastrous family meal, embarks on a journey of self-discovery inspired by the Frank Capra classic that gave this movie its title. The two characters spend more time apart as they encounter characters from the first film and new obstacles as they try to make it back in time for everything to be alright.

There are a lot of subplots in this movie that feels somewhat underbaked (pun intended) involving Mayor Spengler (Kaitlin Olsen) trying to shift the focus away from The Binge towards the Yuletide, which requires her daughter, Kimmi, to help. Kimmi must also deal with her recently escaped convict uncle Kris (Nick Swarsdon). This is the most substantial thread in the entire movie and takes up the most screen time but it feels secondary to what is going on with Andrew and Hags. Andrew pairs up with Angel (Danny Trejo), who serves as his guardian angel on his journey to look at what life would have been like without him. Meanwhile, Hags gets to go on a manic search for the missing ring, itself part of a bizarre backstory that feels like filler for this story.

Directed by Jordan VanDina, who wrote the first movie, It’s A Wonderful Binge suffers from low production values that make it look cheap and quickly made with the majority of the budget going to acquiring as many recognizable (but cheap) actors as they could afford. Tony Cavalero reprises his role as Pompano Mike, a hilarious character who is upstaged by She-Hulk breakout Patty Guggenheim as his partner is crime Delray Donna. Both manage to inject an overdose of puns involving Christmas and Hannukah in their drug-fueled stupor, but like many of the jokes in this movie, they overstay their welcome. Even veteran comic actors like Tim Meadows, Karen Maruyama, and more cannot save this movie from itself. Even the Christmas sentiment is misguided as joke after joke falls flat in this film that feels far too long despite just being a little over an hour and a half.

It’s A Wonderful Binge is a bad movie and an even worse comedy. I barely laughed while watching this and was more bored than anything. Despite Dexter Darden and Eduardo Franco having a solid presence as performers, they have very little material to work with here in a movie that relies on drugs to serve as a rationale for idiotic behavior. The Binge was a humorous concept that failed to capitalize on its potential, but It’s a Wonderful Binge is a waste of not only a creative premise but an embarrassing project for all involved. Stay away from this movie unless you have absolutely nothing to watch this holiday season, and even then, you are better off rewatching virtually anything else.