Vince Vaughn Doubles Down on Criticism of ‘Snoozefest’ Modern Comedies

Vince Vaughn has doubled down on remarks criticizing modern Hollywood politics, referring to so-called "responsible" comedies as a "snoozefest."

“The people in charge don’t want to get fired more so than they’re looking to do something great," Vaughn explained in a new interview with Variety on why R-rated comedies are rarely produced anymore. "I don’t know anyone who’s like, ‘I really love someone making a character be as polite and evolved as possible,'" Vaughn said of the directors and collaborators he surrounds himself with. “If anything, it’s like, ‘Can we get away with this?'"

Vaughn explained that the current climate in Hollywood doesn’t allow for the creative freedom which molded some of his most iconic movies, like Swingers and Wedding Crashers.

“I remember when we first shot Crashers, we were going super [R-rated], and we would do stuff and it was fun because we were almost making a movie for ourselves to be funny and there was [sic] no ‘parents’ around. I think that’s a big problem now—you’ve got to let young people go make a movie and leave them alone. They’ll figure it out in the end.”

After that experience, Vaughn has sought to align himself with left-of-center creatives who are more interested in crafting nuanced work rather than pleasing all audiences.

"I think the stuff that does resonate is always things that at least feel like they’re being authentic to the piece,” he explained. “They’re not trying to code it in a way that feels responsible. That feels like a snoozefest to me; a responsible comedy feels like a time to take a nap.”

Vaughn is currently starring in the AppleTV+ series Bad Monkey, in which he plays a former police officer-turned-health inspector tasked with solving a beguiling mystery.