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Movie Review

‘Unfinished Business’ never gets off the ground

Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson, and Dave Franco in “Unfinished Business.”Jessica Miglio/20th Century Fox

A salesman for some unspecified product has a confrontation with his boss and quits. Vowing to start a rival company, he asks if anyone wants to join him. Getting little response, he carries a sad box containing the contents of his desk to the parking lot. Now where have we seen this before? Was it “Jerry Maguire?” Or an episode of “The Office?” Both. Except it was funnier then.

Almost all mainstream movies steal from other movies, but the better ones get away with it because they possess some distinctive identity. The best that Ken Scott’s “Unfinished Business” can come up with is Vince Vaughn — as the straight man. The ads and trailers would lead one to believe that this is the kooky Vince Vaughn of “The Wedding Crashers” or “Old School,” off to some wacky adventures à la “The Hangover.” But no, he’s worry-wart Dan Trunkman, the disgruntled employee of the opening scene, who has to make his new company succeed.

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And he doesn’t have much to work with, just a couple of corporate castoffs. Timothy McWinters (Tom Wilkinson, who didn’t make it to the sequel of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and instead ended up in this) is a 67-year-old victim of ageism who thinks that life owes him a little fun. The other is Mike Pancake (the name is a comic goldmine). He’s a not very bright but indefatigably cheerful kid whom Dave Franco plays like his brother James’s character in “Pineapple Express,” except dumber and creepier. One old, one slow — send them to a wild city like Berlin and the script writes itself.

That’s where Dan and his team must get a deal done with a big international corporation, and their rival is none other than the company that Dan quit, represented by his hated old boss, Chuck Portnoy. Played by Sienna Miller, Chuck is the kind of beautiful blonde who would be a natural on Fox News; not only is she ruthless but she tells dirty jokes and makes derisive comments about the male anatomy. If Dan was played by the George Clooney in “Up in the Air,” he and Chuck would be sleeping together by now.

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Instead, he’s sleeping in a youth hostel in a room that is described as “a public work of art” — one of the few inspired gags in the movie. But there’s a lot more going on in town — a marathon, the Oktoberfest, a gay parade, coeds on ecstasy dancing topless, and an older woman who shamelessly flaunts her nudity in a “shpritz.” The possibilities for obvious humor are endless.

Not that it matters, but the product that Dan is desperately trying to deal is “swarf,” the metal dross left over when things like bridges and ocean liners are built. “Unfinished Business” is the cinematic equivalent.

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Peter Keough can be reached at petervkeough@gmail.com.