D: William H. Macy / 88m

Cast: Kate Upton, Alexandra Daddario, Matt Barr, Matt Jones, Kal Penn, Molly Shannon, Rob Corddry

There are times when you just want to leave your brain at the door and settle down to watch something that you don’t have to concentrate on, a movie that you can watch and just sit back and have a bit of fun with. Not quite a guilty pleasure, but something that is appropriate for the easy-going mood you’re in. On the face of it, The Layover is exactly that kind of movie. But don’t be fooled, not for a second, because this movie has all the appeal of root canal work. Here are five things you need to know before even contemplating watching The Layover…

1 – It was shot over six weeks in May-June 2015, and has only recently been granted a release (or you could say, it’s recently escaped).

2 – The movie features two life-long friends, Meg (Upton) and Kate (Daddario), who abandon their friendship because they both want to hump a guy (Barr) they meet on a plane (go female empowerment; no, really, just go, you’re not wanted here).

3 – Screenwriters David Hornsby and Lance Krall have never written a screenplay together before (and it could be argued they still haven’t).

4 – This is the second time that William H. Macy has directed a feature-length movie (but it’s unlikely he’ll be bragging about it).

5 – It’s not even remotely funny (no, seriously, it’s the comedy that laughs forgot).

Rating: 3/10 – a leaden, dreary, soul-destroying mess of a movie, The Layover could almost qualify as the dictionary definition of inept – if Baywatch (2017) hadn’t already claimed the title; one to file under Couldn’t Even Have Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, it’s a movie that stalls long before its lead characters even get to the airport.