Bustle's 'Rough Night' Screenings Got Rowdy

In the interest of avoiding a hump day hangover, I generally try not to go out on Tuesdays. I'm also the kind of person who has little self-control and is extremely prone to breaking her own rules. The other evening I did just that, and I have no regrets. I attended Bustle's exclusive screening of Rough Night in New York, and now I have a brand-new mid-year resolution: Go out on more school nights.

This scrappy, female-driven comedy from some of the minds that brought you Broad City hits theaters everywhere on June 16th. Earlier this week, on May 23 and 24, we teamed up with Sony Pictures to show an advance screening of the movie in 20 cities across the U.S. and Canada. NYC, Denver, LA, Chicago, and Miami were just some of the places that hosted packed houses of comedy fans.

In Rough Night, five lifelong friends reunite for a bachelorette party in Miami and take female bonding to a whole new level. Thanks to a spontaneous decision to order of a stripper and a very flimsy chair, their weekend of fun becomes the weekend from hell. But the stories will pay off in bragging rights for years.

Before the screenings, guests mingled, indulged in cocktails, drank, and snapped photos at bachelorette-party-themed happy hours. The San Francisco party had an male exotic dancer! Chicago fans got to rub elbows with Lucia Aniello (the director and co-writer of the film) and Paul W. Downs (co-writer and cast member)! The New York party took place at Lower East Side bar Fool's Gold and boasted gobs of "Team Bride" paraphernalia.

Not to mention signature drinks that were essentially grown-up versions of the Shirley Temple.

Bustlers, old-school besties, and other movie lovers assembled for a night of fun. Special guests Ryan Cooper from the cast and Claudia Oshry of Girl With No Job were in attendance!

And of course, as any self-respecting bachelorette party would have, there were mountains of penis-phenalia in all cities. After all, what is a bachelorette party if not an excuse to eat peen-shaped candies in public?

The LA pre-party, pictured below, took place at Mixology, near LA's famous Grove.

As we heard from our boots on the ground, the weather was perfect for rooftop drinks, and the line to get in was out the door. Women of all ages showed up to sip cucumber mint cocktails make new friends. There was also a hilarious mugshot-themed photo booth, where a couple of our favorite Bustlers snapped a hilarious photo:

Our friend Violet Benson of the popular @Daddyissues instagram stopped by to pose with the "human friend-tipede."

The happy hour was just the beginning. Cast members Jillian Bell and Colton Haynes were in attendance. Our West Coast entertainment editor got to chat with them about making the film in a brief Q&A. They answered questions about their characters, what it was like working with filmmaker and Broad City alum Lucia Aniello, and the importance of female voices in comedy. Considering that Rough Night is the first big-studio R-rated comedy directed by a woman in 20 years, her words held special significance. It's a film directed by badass women, written by badass women, and about badass women.

Then, showtime! So began an hour and a half during which the room was laughing, cringing, and gasping along with our five heroines in this at-times shocking, never boring, all-around raw and scrappy comedy.

And while the stress of their outlandish situation is far beyond anything you and your girls have experienced, things feels oddly relatable. We see old friends growing up, becoming adults, and negotiating weird grown-up pressures with their college friendships and identities. We see friends reconciling with the new life chapters of the people they feel close to. Most profoundly, we're reminded of the fact that when you get together with your partners in crime, the worse the decision, the better the story.

After all, there really is just no better therapy than getting together with your platonic life partners and raising a little Hell. Pretending to be an adult isn't easy. Every now and then, you gotta Carpe that Diem and go hard on a Tuesday.

This article is sponsored by Sony Pictures' Rough Night, in theaters everywhere June 16.

Lead Image: C. Roese Ramp