This Is the Night

Heartfelt 80s dramedy with the release of Rocky III at it's center. Multiple storylines are almost too much but the director makes them work. Watts and Cannavale give their usual solid performances but Frank Grillo shines. I have become very impressed with the way Grillo can make seemingly impossible acting tasks look believable and he really comes through again. Keep 'em coming Frank.

The tone had me excited for another coming-of-age teen drama, centered in NYC; a real slice of life.

What I saw instead-right up until I turned it off-was a typical virtue-signaling Hollywood pander that tries to edit history. So many things were tweaked to reflect today's overly-progressive viewpoint. The casting is heinous, and the writing is not representative of how things were, but how some Millenial THINKS they were, or should have been.

Enough of Hollywood's revisionist and pandering faux-morality. This could have been a charming slice-of-life, but is just a flat, clichéd, inaccurate snooze fest.

This Is the Night (2021) is a teen comedy drama movie written and directed by James DeMonaco and it is a story that you have seen a million times before this movie. This was a first time watch for me and the movie was about what I expected.

Positives for This Is the Night (2021): I liked seeing James DeMonaco do something out of the Purge movies especially after watching The Forever Purge (2021) which was a nightmare to get through. I like the cast with Frank Grillo, Lucius Hoyos, Jonah Hauer-King, Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts. I liked the story with this family doing their best to stand up to their fears which is a good message for a lot of people. There was some fun to be had with seeing people excited to watch Rocky III (1982) in the theater. The movie is paced very well and I news invested in the various journeys with these characters. And finally, I liked seeing that one butthole get his ass handed to him for having the audacity to call Rocky Balboa a pussy.

Mixed for This Is the Night (2021): You have this cliched storyline with one of the boys having a crush on Madelyn Cline which I get for the obvious reasons, but the movie doesn't make any attempts at getting me to care or root for this kid to win over Madelyn Cline by the end of the movie and I don't know anything about her character other than the fact that she is a gorgeous woman.

Negatives for This Is the Night (2021): While the story was interesting, I have seen this story a million times before this movie and done better. The main villains for Frank Grillo and one of his sons are the generic bullies who think they're better than everyone else only to see them get their asses handed to them. The comedy isn't very good and it actually quite embarrassing to see James DeMonaco trying to write comedy. And finally, the ending with Frank Grillo's other son in drag was really dumb and hilarious for the wrong reasons.

Overall, I have to give credit to James DeMonaco for trying something different after watching his Purge movies, but This Is the Night (2021) is about as generic as a teen comedy drama movie can be and it doesn't do anything different to stand out from other movies in this genre.

I remember seeing Rocky III in the theater when I was ten. Let me tell you, it WAS a major event. It was sold at out and we convinced the theater to let us in so we actually stood up in the back of the theater to watch it. It was the only time I stood up in a theater and it was totally worth it. Which brings me to this film. It definitely brought up feelings of nostalgia and I love how it didn't flinch away from the way people talked to each other back then. It was a heartwarming coming of age story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I actually loved it. A family human interest and coming of age drama. And yes, all families have some crazy drama whether they want to admit it or not. A little over the top in some areas. But I found quite entertaining with some not so bad acting. In truth. With a few changes I think it could've been a great comedy.