About Last Night

About Last Night could have gone in two directions: Play it safe and make easy money like 2012's Think like a Man; or gamble the R rating, become more realistic, and resemble the likes of Best Man Holiday.

The gamble was taken, and the payoff is far better than expected. About Last Night finally allows Kevin Hart off the leash and the results are amazing. He also has a comedic rival in the female category with Regina Hall, who stands toe-to-toe with his insanity and doesn't back down. The end result is a romantic dramedy that despite lacking in laughs in favor of drama delivers an entertaining movie that will go down as one that took risks, just not enough of them.

The main risk was the well-earned yet respectably mature R rating. Your best movies about relationships usually tend to be those that do not shy away from the more mature subjects and aren't afraid of baring it all physically and emotionally. The Before Sunrise trilogy and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are the better modern examples. About Last Night never exaggerates to earn the rating, instead exposes one-night stands, relationships, sex, emotional growth, and all the complications amongst these subjects with no red tape to stop it—ultimately establishing itself as a more mature film in its usual cinematic genre.

It wasn't just the honesty that gives About Last Night its edge above its usual contemporaries. It boasts a great (besides Bruno Mars' latest album) soundtrack that incorporates a healthy dosage of jazz and blues, employs a script with good dialogue, and is directed and edited nice and tight for that it never really overstays its welcome. Most importantly, the chemistry amongst the leads is off the charts. Regina Hall and Kevin Hart are nearly flawless together, as their banter and angry love provide the most laughs and some of the best moments in the movie. Not to be undone, the more dramatic relationship between Joy Bryant and Michael Ealy was very much believable and carried the emotional weight of the entire film.

What ultimately bogs down About Last Night is that it doesn't quite dig deep enough into the psyche of modern-day relationships. The 1980 version of About Last Night and the play that it's based on were both brutally realistic as well as critical of the time period and the views of relationships amongst the culture. With this version, we see the who, the what, and the where, but don't enough of the why. It lacks the subtle commentary like what we saw in Her, it lacks the explanation as to why it's become more difficult nowadays for marriages and long-lasting relationships to survive.

One of the quietly scary trends nowadays is the deterioration of the American marriage, especially amongst minorities like Hispanics and Blacks. This movie could have broken even more ground if this had been explored and expanded upon the concept of Sexual Perversion in Chicago, the original stage play. The play is 40 years old, maybe its time for an update?

Mediocre movies remain in shallow waters. Riskier movies swim deeper. And the best of the best fully dive in and risk all the consequences. About Last Night lands somewhere in the middle, but nonetheless is an entertaining movie with good performances and good chemistry. This movie will not embed itself in romantic drama history, but will leave a nice impression throughout the year—especially from rising star Kevin Hart and the underrated talent of Regina Hall, Joy Bryant, and Michael Ealy.

Bernie (Kevin Hart) tells his best friend Danny (Michael Ealy) about last night with Joan (Regina Hall). She's also telling her roommate Debbie (Joy Bryant). They go out on a double date. Bernie and Joan are the wild ones. Danny and Debbie are jaded from all the bad relationships. They hook up anyways and despite reservations, they fall into a relationship.

Kevin Hart and Regina Hall are hilarious together. Michael Ealy and Joy Bryant are a bit bland together. Their romance is rather boring. So the movie is half good. It's lot of fun to have Hart and Hall have their all out fights. I just wish that Ealy has some more energy to pump up his relationship. The sidekicks are better than the leads.

I generally do not enjoy remakes, especially if it is a remake of a movie that was done right the first time. In my opinion if something is done right, why do it a second time? Do you make dinner, take a bite, bask in its deliciousness, then make another dinner? I don't know about you, but I sure do not. Anyway, I digress. 'About Last Night' which is a remake of a 1986 movie of the same name is one of the handful of exceptions to my remake indifference, and a pretty entertaining movie.

Anyone who is a fan of Kevin Hart will appreciate his acting in this movie, one because he doesn't seem to be acting at all, and two, he won't shut up…but honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. The dialogue in the movie is definitely its strength. Aside from the four main characters I was pretty indifferent to the rest of the cast, excluding some minor moments with Joe Lo Truglio (Wet Hot American Summer) and Christopher McDonald (Shooter!). Each couple is unique in their own way, one cute and passionate, the other well…angry and sex obsessed, but they both work for different reasons.

The main focus of the movie is making that leap from a one night stand to a relationship. It's 2014, just because two people are having sex, it does not make them a couple. So how do you know when a one night stand reaches fu..uh fun buddy status, or if you are in a relationship? It is all mental. To be in a relationship you have to be mentally ready to commit to someone else, which is what the couples in the movie struggle with for an hour and forty minutes. Does it become predictable? Of course it does, there are no new themes in writing, but did I get bored? No. I think that a good romantic comedy keeps your attention even though it is evident what will happen in the movie. In 'Romeo and Juliet' Shakespeare tells us what is going to happen on the first page, but we keep reading, and I assure you that movies are no different than books.

So what do we have here? Nothing but another unnecessary remake of an '80s film. This time it's "About Last Night," the romantic drama starring Demi Moore and Rob Lowe, which was itself based on the highly acclaimed play by David Mamet, provocatively entitled "Sexual Perversity in Chicago." In this version, it's Joy Brand and Michael Ealy who play the young urban couple who meet, fall in love, move in together, then begin to have doubts about the efficacy and durability of their relationship.

Brand and Ealy are appealing and attractive performers, and both have done fine work on TV, Brand in "Parenthood" and Ealy in "Almost Human." But here they have been let down by screenwriter Leslye Headland, who proves herself incapable of getting past all the timeworn tropes and clichés that have become so much a part of the romantic comedy genre. The movie becomes just another men-are-from-Mars/women-are-from-Venus- type scenario, filled with girl-talk and guy-talk and all the predictable sturm und drang soul-baring and commitment issues (mainly on the part of the man, of course) that such narratives are prone to. Too often the things pulling the couple apart feel scripted and manufactured rather than organic and real. Under the slick but lackluster direction of Steve Pink, everyone just seems to be going through the motions, without any real passion or conviction.

The movie also comes replete with the requisite smart-aleck, comic- relief couple (well-played by Kevin Hart and Regina Hall) to serve as a foil for the one on center-stage. Yet, even the humor tends to aim low when it should be aiming high.

I like the way the story hits the re-set button in the final scene, but by then it's a case of too little too late and we've already moved onto the next movie.

Honestly, I'm disappointed. Steve Pink has directed some much funnier comedies in the past (Accepted, Hot Tub Time Machine). I think the problem is that he's just not cut out to direct the serious stuff. The first 20-30 minutes of the movie are the funniest, and the strongest. After that, the film drags and drags. Clearly there are two couples, and Ealy and Bryant's relationship takes the dramatic turn, while Hart and Hall are funny.

Ealy and Bryant are too melodramatic to make the dull material work, and Hart and Hall are oddly slapstick next to them. Do men really talk to women the way Kevin Hart's character does? Or is he an exaggerated version to be funny? He borders on obnoxious.

If you make it to the end, which I suppose most of you will, do you even care if the couples stay together or break up? In many ways, the film makes a stronger case for these couples not being together. I suppose, the one thing the movie does well is define itself as not being a black movie. I know what you're thinking… the four leads are all black, it must be a black movie. It's not. I don't recall a moment in the film where they ever discuss being black, or the struggle of being black, or anything related to the color of their skin.

The film is a romantic comedy, where the leads happen to be black. Most films like this end up being "black movies", because of jokes that resonate more with a black audience, or jokes about the culture, etc. About Last Night avoids all of that, amazingly.

You won't get past the fact that the film drags, the acting isn't great, and you'll end up not caring about the end result. I'm behind on reviewing this, it's already on DVD, and that's a good thing. This would have been a definite skip for theatres, but is less offensive when you only spend a dollar or two on it.