Movie Review: Date Night (2010)
A short and satisfying comedic diversion
Photo: 20th Century Fox
Depending on how you look at Date Night, your expectations will either be met or exceeded. The trailers did little to instill confidence in many, Josh Klausner's screenplay pedigree (Shrek 3 and 4 co-writer) does little to excite, the comedic talent of Tina Fey and Steve Carell kept me hopeful and the reaction to director Shawn Levy is going to depend on your affinity for the Night at the Museum franchise. Based on those factors I expect Date Night will surprise many as expectations can't be too high for what results in being a hit-and-miss comedy made of moments that go on too long as well as one-liners that land squarely. I enjoyed it as a one-time watch, but it's way too up and down to ever give it too much praise.
The cast includes Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Taraji P. Henson, Common, Kristen Wiig, Leighton Meester, Ray Liotta, Mila Kunis, Mark Ruffalo, William Fichtner, Lauren Weedman, Nick Kroll and J.B. Smoove. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"Date Night" is a 20th Century Fox release, directed by Shawn Levy and is rated PG-13 for sexual and crude content throughout, language, some violence and a drug reference. The running time is 1 hour 27 minutes.
This is an ensemble comedy co-starring Common, Taraji P. Henson, Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, Ray Liotta and William Fichtner. Of the bunch Franco and Kunis share a comedic five minutes that almost feels more like a rushed "Saturday Night Live" rehearsal run, but it remains funny. And while Wahlberg's appearance is a rather one-note joke it does inspire some comedy, especially an over-the-top parody of technology in film.
Fey and Carell work well together and they only misfire when a scene goes on too long, such as a pole-dancing segment toward the end that should have been deleted or rewritten altogether. However, the two middle-aged women sitting behind me at my screening were howling with laughter as the rest of the theater remained silent at this scene so perhaps it's a story of different strokes.
Date Night is a cobbled together feature of standalone scenes serving as an overall narrative. It's nothing more than a satisfactory diversion, but kudos must be handed out to Levy for keeping the running time down to 87 minutes. Levy takes little time getting to a story filled with all the screwball antics you would expect and that's rare these days. One liners most likely improvised by Fey and Carell on the spot keep the story fresh, as well the film benefits from the on screen charisma the two share.
Date Night is a slightly above average comedy fitting into the landscape exactly as it should, hardly disturbing the water on either side of right-down-the-middle.
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This was a decent movie. It will appeal to a lot of women and men won't mind going to the theater because it's Steve Carell.
Tina Fey was good but Carell again stole the show, as he does in most movies he's in ( Evan Almighty). A good cameo appearance with Mark Wahlberg. Solid writing, weird ending but hey, it's a comedy. It didn't feel like a romantic comedy, in fact, it felt more like a story of misplaced espionage. You might see cute little on liners in the trailers for this movie, but it has some good laughs and it's and enjoyable comedy. I give it a solid B or 7/10.
There was also a tremendously hilarious trailer for Will Ferrell's "The Other Guys" before this movie. Can't wait for that.
Also Tina Fey is supposedly bringing back her Palin for SNL this Saturday. Tune in to see the hilarity!
I meant to write "shiver" before "Evan Almighty" but html got a hold of it. In no way do I think that "Evan Almighty" is a good movie.