About Last Night

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.

Kevin Hart's level of comedy is one you either get or you don't get. If you don't get it, then you'll still like this film because he isn't really the central character. This movie is written as a romantic comedy, but I saw much more romantic than comedy, but was funny enough nonetheless.

Let's talk about what I liked. I liked Michael Ealy's effortless charm and his chemistry with actress Joy Bryant. I liked Regina Hall and Kevin Hart in their ridiculously dysfunctional relationship. I liked the directing, because in some scenes, the seemingly "awkward" or "different" camera angles that my girlfriend was complaining about were actually very artistic and well done. I liked the soundtrack as well.

The only off-putting feature of this movie is that Kevin Hart's acting seems almost nonexistent. The guy is just playing himself in every film. I seriously think the guy doesn't even know he's an actor.

If you watch his stand up specials, and then a few of his very early film appearances, he seems to incorporate a level of acting. Up until his film breakout in Think Like A Man, not too many people knew of him. Now, a household name, he reaps in the benefits of being a funny man.

Throughout the film, it actually just felt like Kevin Hart was just talking to a bunch of actors. Not often did I feel like I was watching a movie. Over time, through multiple viewings of Kevin Hart's works, it seems to get repetitive and unfunny.

A good movie for the romantic yet predictable story between Michael Ealy's character and Joy Bryant's.

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.

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.

Trying to capture the original doesn't let this movie go to where it could have gone. It has that same 80's young feel (Lowe and Moore were in their 20's) but because these characters are older, and it is a much different age, the movie just doesn't work as a true remake. The movie tries to capture the naiveté and awkwardness of a first serious love like the original, but these actors are MUCH older and have been around the block. The goofy "misunderstandings" and doubting of the relationship - they actually say that whomever says "I love you" first loves the person more (sigh) - wouldn't happen over 30. For more of us it's 25. So if they took more liberties with the acting it have been so much better. And that is so disappointing! Kevin Hart plays the same character he does in every movie - and if of course hysterical. It's so sad because these actors are all great but what they are portraying doesn't work. Besides that, it was a cute movie. I was hoping for another Act Like a Man, but alas no.