The Night Before: Secret Party

I was reluctant to see the film. I heard it was vulgar and tasteless. I saw bad santa in the day, and although it was filthy and offensive, I laughed a lot. the night before is neither vulgar or tasteless. it's just nothing. no one in the theater laughed, no one walked out. I actually couldn't give it a number. seth rogen is, well, seth rogan. no acting stretch of any kind. Joseph gorden levitt, who reminds me a great deal of a young johnny depp (pre-stardom), is totally wasted, no pun, here. I was hoping for laughs and instead was wondering what the film maker had in mind. I couldn't tell. I know movies are subjective and we all don't see the same movie. reviews are mixed. I wanted to laugh. no luck there.

My wife and I go to all types of movies, from independent films like Far From the Madding Crowd (good) to films like Trainwreck (excellent), Spectre (only average), to low brow movies like Horrible Bosses (excellent) and We're The Millers (very good). They all look like masterpieces when compared to The Night Before.

There is no real plot here, just three guys trying to enjoy a night out (Christmas Eve) on the town. I like Seth Rogen but he is awful here. There are several gross out scenes for cheap laughs (I may have laughed twice in the whole movie), and a supporting cast that is completely wasted. Lizzy Caplan who is so fabulous in Masters of Sex is completely misused here (must have needed a new patio).

I assumed that with a Metecritic score of 58 and the Washington Post reviewer giving it 2.5 stars the movie wouldn't be horrible, and even if it had no redeeming value it would be good for a number of laughs. I was so wrong.

I'm temped to go see the other new Christmas movie, Love the Coopers, which has a Metacritic score of 29. Could it really be worse than this movie?

Don't waste your time on this movie (time you'll never get back). Go see Brooklyn (good) or Spotlight (very good) or The Intern (excellent). They are all time well spent.

When you are searching for movie for a funny Saturday evening and you see a comedy with Seth Rogan you can expect a paticular type of movie. And if you decide to watch this movie, you can't expect something artistic and a demanding intelligent comedy. If you expect that you will hate this movie, but then it is your own fault. From a Seth Rogan comedy you expect an easy funny comedy with a lot of party, drugs, good friendship and a lot of fun to watch. And "The Night before" gives you exactly what you expect and especially exactly what you want to see when you decide to watch this movie and you have a fun time watching it.

I'm a pretty tough critic when it comes to movies in general, with comedies' standards differing a bit. I was very pleasantly surprised with this movie. I expected it to be pretty funny, but nothing special. I came away thinking it was pretty funny; but also found it to have a lot of heart and actually/shockingly, quite thought provoking. As I get older, relationships with friends are becoming confusing, complicated, and frankly quite difficult. And this movie hit on that really well. I also thought Mr. Green was an amazing character; and he's now a bit of a personal cult favorite of mine id say. This goes down as one of my three or four favorite Christmas movies.

This film tells the story of three friends who finally gets the tickets to go to the most epic Christmas party of all time.

"The Night Before" is a silly, drug fuelled journey that lasts for one evening. There are loads of eye rolling moments that are meant to be funny, but ends up frustrating me. It's tiring to see adults acting irresponsibly and recklessly as if consequences do not matter. The only redeeming part of the film is the extended cameo with James Franco. That part is funny and saves the film a bit. Overall, I think the film is not so entertaining, as it's too brainless and unfunny. Maybe I'll have to be in the right state of mind to enjoy it.