Sexo, Drogas e Jingle Bells

This is one of those fun movies that you forget about for 11 months of the year and then when you are scrolling through looking for a movie over Christmas and sure enough, you watch it and love it all over again.

There are plot holes in this, but don't think too hard, just enjoy it. It is a sweet premise for a movie of friends helping friends and holding up a tradition. Seth Rogan high on every drug under the sun is always fun to watch.

But the highlight of this movie is Michael Shannon. His weird creepy intense vibe works so well in this and I can't stop laughing every time he is on screen.

Seth Rogen is a rather intelligent producer. He and his pals (including Evan Goldberg, James Franco, Mindy Kaling, Lizzy Caplan, Randall Park etc.) have created an unusual semi-surreal kind of weird comedies, like "The interview" and "This is the end".

In The Night Before (2015/II) (because there is another (2015/I) movie with the same name in 2015 starring David Faustino!)...3 friends spend every Xmas together in search for a great party and having a good time. The dramatic element here is that one of them lost his parents in a car accident and the other 2 are trying to be supportive.

The problem is that this movie seems like it is designed to provoke, even shock. Trying to extrude laughter through harsh and dramatic situations without actually entering the limits of a black comedy.

Drugs and "tripping" play a major part in the movie. A tone of supernatural. And of course sex and relationships and friendships, the "bro" kind. Yet there are a lot to be desired and a major part of the film, although uneven, takes the lead and makes lifelong friendship to seem like it is just an excuse for some crude jokes like blood from a dripping nose into someone's drink or vomiting into a church during Xmas mass.

Overall: You wont be missing much if you avoid to see this. In the end, the basic idea of bro-friendship seems like an excuse from some surreal gags.

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.

Good fun, this - it's a fairly uninspired premise overall, but the dialogue and performances are so strong it almost brings it to a realm of its own.

Not funny or clever enough to be an 8, but too entertaining & powerful and understated (particularly now, in 2024 when everything is heavy handed to the point of childish) to be a 6 - as Christmas films go, it's really good. As far As films in general, it's very average and probably not massively re watchable on its own cinematic merits.

That being said, I wish there were more Christmas movies of this ilk, properly for adults with heart without resorting to heavy-handed schmaltz, and a bit sweary - I guess the reviews here indicate the audience for them isn't as vast as I'd like to think (same for the brilliantly original Violent Night), but I for one would love to see a film made soon which leans into the adult energy as wholesale as this does. Too many 'adult' Christmas films lately are trying too hard to please everyone. The Night Before is refreshing and increasingly a festive staple for me, year on year.

Recommend.

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.