While there is an ever present ickiness in its premise of murder equals laughs, Rough Night has enough fun with its lowbrow gags to place it above similar comedies.

Much like Hangover before it, Bridesmaids set the bar high for other female led comedies to reach. Bachelorette, The Other Woman, Bad Moms…one by one they have tried, and they have failed. Now comes another contender in the form of Rough Night, a black comedy filled with the usual crass sex jokes that is part and parcel of such comedies. Yet what do ya know? There is actually some funny to found here, with Rough Night able to counter its morally messy central premise with laugh out loud scenes of the R-rated kind. It’s not a knock-out of a movie, but it does win on points.

The film focuses on Jess (Scarlett Johansson) an up and coming politician about to get married to the incredibly sensitive Peter (Paul W. Downs). But before the big day arrives, Jess will join her college BFF’s - overbearing Alice (Jillian Bell), posh Blair (Zoe Kravitz), scruffy activist Frankie (Ileana Grazer), and ditzy Australian Pippa (Kate McKinnon) - for a weekend of drug filled debauchery. That is until they accidentally kill a stripper hired for their entertainment.

It is the messy moral implication of the last part that constantly rears its ugly head throughout Rough Night. The use of a corpse as comedy fodder has been done in films ranging from Weekend at Bernies to Swiss Army Man. Rough Night proves that there is a delicate balance in presented such a situation, one which director/writer Lucia Aniello and co-writer Paul W. Downs struggle to pin to a fine art. Yet their many stumbles are countered by even more genuinely funny moments, the result of a game cast taking to the material with a mix of gumption and earnestness.

Kravitz brings an incredible sex appeal, Grazer a spunky attitude, Bell perfectly towing that line between obscene and annoying, and McKinnon able to channel her goofball charm along with an entertaining parody of an Australian accent. Great too are Demi Moore and Tyler Burden as a swinging couple so sleazy they make you laugh and grimace at the same time. The odd woman out is Scarlett Johansson, who although brings star power, leaves the heavy lifting to her cast mates.

There is a lot to fault in Rough Night. Its laughs are inconsistent, plot beyond silly, and a palpable feeling of sleeve can be felt at times. Yet even the most ridiculous of wild nights has their flat out funny moments and genuine surprises. Think of Rough Night as a guilty pleasure.