'Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice' review: Time-traveling gangster comedy is a must-see crowd-pleaser

Cheers to BenDavid Grabinski. The writer/director of Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice takes a bold swing, combining elements of gangster movies and time-travel adventures to craft a comedy that's wildly unique. And he created the perfect way to introduce such an unexpected subgenre mash-up, with a high-energy performance from Ben Schwartz. The improv comedian reteams with his Sonic the Hedgehog co-star James Marsden in this dark sci-fi comedy. But the two won't share any scenes together. Instead, Schwartz channels his irrepressible verve into a full-throated performance of an undersung gem: "Why Should I Worry?" the Billy Joel single from Oliver & Company. Yes. This movie about gangsters and time travel begins with Ben Schwartz bopping around a warehouse, doing some sort of science-y stuff while singing his heart out to an upbeat track from the 1988 Disney adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, which reimagines all the characters as cats and dogs, most of them strays. Why? I had no idea. And that's actually the pleasure of Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice's opening. Even though I had a rough idea of the plot, I couldn't guess why this was the scene that kicked things off. It's inexplicab

Mar 25, 2026 → Apr 3, 2026