Lil Rel Howery is a stand-up comedian from Chicago. He first entered the mainstream media in the NBC series The Carmichael Show (2015). His profile was catapulted even higher when he appeared in the hit and Oscar-winning film Get Out (2017) by Jordan Peele. That film was technically a horror film, but, given both Peele's and Howery's backgrounds, Get Out could be seen as a comedy of sorts, a satire. It was considered elevated in a lot of ways and prestige in others. Since then, Howery has done a lot of non-elevated and non-prestige projects. He's done a lot of silly and goofy stuff. Mostly, it's been juvenile. He's been producing his own work since his FOX series Rel (2018), which was more of a traditional sitcom from the 90's. He produced what was the equivalent of a horror with The Mill (2023), a science-fiction thriller. After a decade or so in Hollywood, he's built up enough capital to start directing. He directed a stand-up special in 2025, but this year, he's making his feature debut in the director's chair. One might wonder how he would be as the filmmaker in charge. One might wonder if he would lean more toward Jordan Peele or if he would lean more toward the filmmakers of the juvenile content that he's mainly been doing. The answer is the latter.
Lil Rel Howery who now goes by Rel Howery stars as Ron Hawkins. He didn't write this feature, but his character's name has the same initials. Ron is married, but he's currently separated from his wife. He's staying at a hotel because he got kicked out, but it doesn't seem as if he did anything wrong. If anything, his wife cheated on him. At first, he's fantasizing about his wife because he seems to still love her, but he can't really go home right now. He's also harboring a bit of a secret. He did something that could have landed him in prison, but he got away with it and one of his best friends took the fall. It's strange because the film never truly digs into what that crime was. It's briefly mentioned, but it's rather brushed over.
Karlous Miller (Wild 'N On Tour and Last Comic Standing) co-stars as Terrence Richards, the aforementioned best friend of Ron. Terrence or "T" went to prison for the crime that Ron committed. He's spent what seems like several years in prison. He's about to be released, but, before he is, a fellow inmate tells him that there's an abandoned house that has a hidden treasure that's worth a lot of money, if not millions. The inmate convinces Terrence to go there and steal this treasure. Terrence then decides to trick Ron and his other friends into joining him in his plan to steal this hidden treasure. Unfortunately, what nobody knows is that this abandoned house is full of ghosts, led by the ghosts of the former owners of the mansion.
Tiffany Haddish is a fellow comedian who worked with Howery in the film Uncle Drew (2018). Most people first learned about Haddish in the hit comedy, Girls Trip (2017). Here, she plays Shari, a social media influencer who is trying to hype various brands and make money online, but her career isn't going great. She's secretly struggling, but she puts on a good act of confidence, especially when she's live-streaming to her followers, such that they are. She was also a friend of Terrence and she gets invited to join Terrence in this abandoned house, which she thinks is an Airbnb. She's just as surprised to learn that the house is full of ghosts. If the idea of Haddish being in a film that has ghosts in someone's home sounds familiar, then you might be one of the few people who saw her in Disney's Haunted Mansion (2023).
That film had reportedly a $150 million budget. The budget for this one hasn't been reported, but I would be surprised if it were over a tenth of that Disney picture. Haunted Mansion has a lot of visual effects and a lot of over-the-top set-pieces. There have been plenty of really funny and fully entertaining, horror comedies that are specifically about people encountering ghosts or spirits from the after life. Poltergeist (1982), Ghostbusters (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988) are several that came to mind that were probably made for around the same budget, if not slightly higher. What those classic, horror comedies possess that this one perhaps lacks is a core, emotional story that drives the narrative and makes us care about the characters.
Andrew Bachelor aka "King Bach" (The Babysitter and Wild 'n Out) plays Ellis, a guy who is clearly somewhat younger than Ron, Terrence, and Shari. Yet, he seems to be a part of that same friend group. They probably lived in the same neighborhood and grew up knowing each other. It's not exactly clear how, but Ellis was able to start his own company. It's not exactly explained how or why, but the other executives at his business kicked him out. He was very wealthy, but he's now on the verge of destitution or the wealth that he had is gone, even though he still pretends to be rich. The way he's introduced, he comes across as a jerk and annoyingly entitled.
Writer Carl Reid who helped produce The Mill with Howery lays down the foundation for these characters, so that we can get to know them further and care about them. Yet, this film never goes the extra mile to achieve that. We don't really get to know these characters any further. As rendered, the only thing we get is superficial. Ron is dealing with the breakup of his marriage and whatever crime he committed that could've gotten him put in prison. Terrence is dealing with the fact that he was put in prison for a crime that he seemingly didn't commit. He also reveals a health issue later in the film. Shari is dealing with her struggling online career. Ellis is dealing with the loss of his wealth. Yet, instead of digging into those things and developing these things even further, so that we care about them, the film literally sits around a table and reiterates everything we already knew about them.
What this feature ends up being is a flimsy excuse to have the four actors stand around and do stand-up comedy bits, mostly hurling insults at each other. Howery, Miller, Haddish, and King Bach are all comedians, so they're doing what they normally do, but that's not enough for a narrative and a story that engenders empathy for its characters. It reminds me of what Tyler Perry has been doing lately in his Madea films, such as Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016) where it's less about telling a story and more of an excuse to have Perry and others stand or sit around and comment on horror tropes but from a racial perspective. This would be fine, if Howery's film had come up with scarier or creepier set-pieces. It would have been fine, if the film had come up with funnier bits for the cast to do. Each character here gets funny lines here and there, but the bits fall flat. A better version of this concept or framework is Tim Story's The Blackening (2023), which had scarier and funnier bits.
One bit here that was spoiled in the trailer shows Ron, Terrence, Shari, and Ellis summoning the ghost of Ron's grandmother. Ron's grandmother looks like a Madea clone, and she behaves much in the way that Madea would. It's revealed that the main villain is a racist ghost, played by Brett Gelman (Lady in the Lake and Stranger Things). When Ron's grandmother meets this racist ghost, instead of fighting against him, Ron's grandmother ends up having sex with him and a threesome with the racist ghost and his racist ghost wife. It makes no sense. I understand that the joke is Ron cringing at the sight of having to watch his grandmother who is an elderly, and overweight, Black woman have sex. The joke is also the idea of his grandmother being dressed in church clothes and her Sunday best, getting freaky and horny. However, that idea could have been achieved with the grandmother having sex with any of the other guys. Why would she hook up with a racist guy who is trying to kill her grandson.
There's a moment where we see Ellis go shirtless, as he attempts to hook up with Shari. If you follow King Bach on Instagram, it's clear that he hits the gym and is very much into fitness. A joke is made earlier about King Bach's Ellis being interested in Shari but Shari not returning his affections. Jokes are made about Ellis perhaps not being able to hook-up with Shari or anyone, despite the fact that Ellis is younger than all of them and he's in better physical shape. He's the most ripped and the most muscular of not only the men in this film but of most men probably in the United States. It would have made more sense and quite frankly been funnier if Ron's grandma hooked up with Ellis. Having the grandma hook up with the racist ghost was probably seen as the most offensive thing they could do in that moment, which was probably the intention. I'm not opposed to a film trying to be shocking or even offensive, but it should make sense to the characters and who they are.
Rated R for language, sexual material, violence, and some gore.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 27 mins.
In theaters.
