SEARCH PARTY (15, 93 mins)

Comedy/Romance/Action. Thomas Middleditch, TJ Miller, Adam Pally, Shannon Woodward, Alison Brie, JB Smoove, Jason Mantzoukas, Krysten Ritter. Director: Scot Armstrong. Released: May 29 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

In first-time director Scot Armstrong's calamitously unfunny comedy, three accident-prone pals cross the border into Mexico to track down a runaway bride and persuade her to return to the altar.

Instead, the numbskull characters should be hunting high and low for a decent, well-crafted joke - just one - to adorn a ramshackle script co-penned by Armstrong, Mike Gagerman and Andrew Waller.

If this trio of experienced writers had committed a single amusing line to the page before cameras started rolling, it must have been cut in the editing room because the 93 minutes of tomfoolery that remain are by turns cringeworthy and dull.

Armstrong co-wrote the testosterone-fuelled bromances Road Trip and The Hangover Part II and it wouldn't be surprising if implausible scenarios, which were deservedly rejected during brainstorming sessions for those films, have been recycled and carelessly stitched together here.

Illegal organ transplants, drug trafficking and police corruption become unlikely and unfertile sources of humour as the trio of central characters suffer embarrassment after indignity in the name of love.

During a low-key bachelor party, Nardo (Thomas Middleditch) confides to his two buddies Jason (TJ Miller) and Evan (Adam Pally) that he is nervous about his upcoming wedding to sweetheart Tracy (Shannon Woodward).

"We all said we have veto powers over each other's girls," Jason reminds his pals, referring to the pact they made when they were nine.

The following day, Evan halts the wedding, asserting that Tracy isn't a perfect fit for Nardo.

The humiliated bride-to-be flees the ceremony and heads alone to the luxury honeymoon resort in Baja California.

Nardo eventually gives chase but he is robbed of both his car and clothes and has to telephone Jason and Evan for help.

"You got car-jacked and then you got tuxedo-jacked?" gasps Jason.

The lads drive across the border into Mexico to collect their naked friend and become embroiled in a series of painful misadventures including a gun fight with a Mexican drug lord (JB Smoove) and a close encounter with casino performer The Amazing Hugo (Jason Mantzoukas) and his sexy assistant (Krysten Ritter).

However, the clock is ticking because ad executive Evan needs to be back in his office ASAP for an important meeting with office crush Elizabeth (Alison Brie).

Search Party limps and wheezes from the opening frame.

The storyline is disjointed and acrimoniously divorced from reality for the sake of a pratfall.

Middleditch, Miller and Pally imbue their poorly sketched protagonists with myriad neuroses and quirks but scant charm.

Tellingly, when the likely lads stare death in the face in a car accident, hail of bullets or daredevil leap from a balcony, we wouldn't shed a tear if they came to a sticky, premature end.

Till death us do part. The sooner the better.

RATING: 3/10