Flock of Dudes is a 2016 comedy about a young man who decides it’s time to “break-up” with his friends so that he might finally grow up and be responsible. Guess how well that works out.
Adam (Chris D’Elia) is best friends with the same three friends from college and little has changed since then. They party and drink and generally have no direction in their lives. On Adam’s anniversary with his girlfriend Katherine (Jamie Chung), he gets drunk and completely botches the date where he was supposed to meet her parents. Flash forward a few years, and Adam is now living with his friends in a rundown frat-like house, partying more than ever. Nobody takes them seriously and when the landlord kicks them out, he feels it’s time for a change.
Enter Adam’s much more responsible little brother David (Skylar Astin) who challenges the men to “break up” and arranges a six-month plan where they must spend time apart or face some difficult consequences. Now they must try to put their lives together and that means putting on their big boy pants and manning up. It won’t be easy. Or will it?
Written and directed by Bob Castrone, Flock of Dudes starts in a pretty standard way with the thirty-ish men acting like college boys and getting into trouble with a woman, but finds its footing a bit after as it puts more of its focus on Adam as he attempts to do better at his job, meet a nice girl, and find the right path. This means no more parties, staying sober, and taking things more seriously. Of course, there’s obstacles, like running into Katherine and her new boyfriend Mario Lopez. No seriously, the Mario Lopez. But it’s not like he isn’t trying. He finds he can write and gets interested in a new career. And he gets close with co-worker Beth (Hannah Simone), who herself is just out of a relationship.
The potential for Flock of Dudes to go off the rails is ever-present and there are a few moments that teeter over the wrong edge, but for the most of it, surprisingly, it keeps true and the more it rolls on, the more it works. This is mostly due to a smart cast, with D’Elia a comfortable presence that keeps this grounded, even when things get a little crazy. His friends, a mix of simple stereotypes find the right mark with the always reliable Brett Gelman stealing every scene he’s in. Yes, the premise is obvious, but there are clever bits about how a break up with the boys parallels an actual romantic one, even if the joke gets stretched to the breaking point.
Given what it wants to be, Flock of Dudes succeeds, but there’s no doubting this could have been a deeper project with a tighter script. It’s not breaking any new ground, and its predictable story is far from challenging, but its short running time and excellent casting make this an easy choice for a look.