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John Cena is another WWE superstar who has made a name for himself in movies. He says his latest movie, Vacation Friends has at least one thing in common with his wrestling legacy. The comedy stars Cena as Ron, who with his wife Kyle (Meredith Hagner) shows Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) and Emily (Yvonne Orji) a wild time in Mexico. When Ron and Kyle show up at Marcus and Emily’s wedding, the wild time becomes a hilarious disaster. 

John Cena takes a selfie with Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji and Meredith Hagner
L-R: Meredith Hagner, Yvonne Orji, Lil Rel Howery and John Cena | Jessica Miglio/20th Century Studios

Cena was on a Zoom press conference for Vacation Friends on Aug. 12. Here’s the parallel he drew between the comedy and WWE. Vacation Friends is on Hulu Aug. 27.

Both WWE and ‘Vacation Friends’ have one secret weapon for international success

Cena’s WWE performances play around the world. Cena believes international audiences will watch Vacation Friends for the same reason.

Vacation Friends: John Cena, Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji and Meredith Hagner stand on a cliff
L-R: Meredith Hagner, Yvonne Orji, Lil Rel Howery and John Cena | Jessica Miglio/20th Century Studios

“Being a physical performer in the WWE, the reason we transcend so many borders is because you get the action,” Cena said. “I think what [writer/director] Clay [Tarver] brilliantly did in the script was provide a ton of physical comedy. So it’s also a movie that you can even not necessarily know what’s going on with the audio and see the movie and laugh along with it because of the tremendous amount of physical comedy.  I think that’s going to help us around the world and hopefully we can make a lot more people laugh.”

John Cena is kind of like his ‘Vacation Friends’ character in real life

Ron is always up for a party or an adventure, be it cliff diving or a foursome. Cena may not be that extreme, but it wasn’t as big of a stretch as you might think.

John Cena and Meredith Hagner have beers with Lil Rel Howery and Yvonne Orji
L-R: Yvonne Orji, Lil Rel Howery, John Cena and Meredith Hagner | Jessica Miglio/20th Century Studios
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“As performers, we always try to take either extensions of ourselves or possibly the opposite of our personality,” Cena said. “Now, if you see Ron and you see me, Ron’s probably not gonna wear a waist coat and a half Windsor. The characteristics that I find in Ron is the ability to be present, the ability to be in the now, and the ability to enjoy the journey of life. I think he’s very emotionally connected to who he is. He’s not ashamed to be who he is. And he certainly is the captain of the ship when it comes to having a good time.”  

‘Vacation Friends’ follows a legacy of wild vacation movies 

In addition to the physical antics akin to WWE, Cena reminds audiences of the other wild comedies they’ve enjoyed. He just hopes Ron can be another memorable comic instigator.

“I love it because you know what you’re going to get when you see the movie,” Cena said. “The two words describe what you’re going to see, so you have expectations. Any great comedy takes relatable situations and completely makes them hysterically absurd. That’s what this movie does. It puts us in a situation like, I’ll use Superbad, The Hangover, you could go on and on. You get what The Hangover is about. But it’s so far that that’s where we can laugh at it, because these people go through these absurd situations. So you know what Vacation Friends is about.”

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