Crazy Night

Greetings again from the darkness. Most married couples can probably relate to the grind of a life absorbed with work and parenting. Sometimes the fantasy turns into having a quiet moment of solitude. Heck, even "date night" can devolve into just another responsibility tacked on at the end of a long week. This is the premise for director Shawn Levy's film. The best part? It doesn't matter at all.

The reason this film works is not the plot or script, but rather the talents of the two funniest people in showbiz today: Steve Carell and Tina Fey. The two seem to have an exceptional comedic connection that brings out a timing that reminds of the best comedy teams of all time.

Sometimes what makes for the funniest comedy is putting "normal" people into exceptional situations and let them react. Here, Carell and Fey are just a typical suburban couple trying to re-ignite the luster of an all too comfortable marriage. The motivation comes when their friends (Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Wiig) announce they are splitting. This starts Carell and Fey off on a series of skits that would make Seinfeld proud.

The nightmare begins when the couple "steals" a reservation in a hot new restaurant and assume the identity of, what turns out to be a couple of low level thieves. The multitude of skits that follow include supporting work from dirty cops (Common and Jimmi Simpson), the real reservation holders (funny James Franco and Mila Kunis), a mob boss (Ray Liotta), a corrupt city official (William Fichtner) and a "security expert" in the eternally shirtless Mark Wahlberg.

The approach of the film reminds me of "After Hours", "Adventures in Babysitting" and "The Out of Towners". Some of the best comedy occurs when the main players aren't tossing out incessant one-liners. Think back to Cary Grant's screwball comedies. He was not a bumbling idiot or a stand-up comedian walking through life. His characters were reactionary to the odd-ball situations in which he was placed. That is the approach of Carell and Fey, and I hope they pursue future projects together.

Tina Fey + Steve Carell = A funny and surprisingly heartwarming film. Their on-screen chemistry is very good. They're basically aces when it comes to playing modern-day parents in ridiculous situations.

"Date Night" is a movie about a couple, named the Fosters, who are running in the biggest rut of their life. They want to spark it up, and decide that one night they will change up the routine.

Date Night has many of the traits I enjoy in a comedy with a good balance of laughs and sentimental value.

The diner scene is adorable and Felt rather realistic. I could feel the relationship the Fosters were experiencing, if that's a proper way to decribe that. Kudos, to the writers for masterfully writing some emotional dialog.

Overall, Date Night is a very enjoyable film.

My wife and I spent our date night on "Date Night." Starring two of the funniest people in the American film industry makes this a must-see. And we were not wrong.

The Fosters are a typical middle-income suburban couple with two hyperactive kids. One night, they decide to spice up their date night by going to The Claw, a posh Manhattan restaurant. Desperate for a table, they claim the reservation of a no-show couple called the Tripplehorns (a hilarious homage to the actress Jeanne!). Once that die was cast, the Fosters were then plunged into a night of mistaken identity, crooked cops, double-crossing crooks and blackmail. Of course with Carrell and Fey as the Fosters, this nightmarish scenario becomes a fun rollicking madcap all-night adventure!

Witty lines and zingy one-liners are thrown between these two, and the numerous name actors who make supporting appearances. These include the perpetually shirtless Mark Wahlberg (though that joke did wear thin after a while), and a gruff and dirty James Franco (whose shouting match with Carrell is classic!). The funniest scenes involve two hooked up cars in a frenetic car chase in downtown New York, and a psychedelic dance floor with a pole. Those two LOL scenes alone are worth the price of admission!

With the talents and goodwill of the two lead stars, I am pretty sure "Date Night" will be liked by most audiences. There are a couple of scenes with heartfelt discussions about married life as well in there. This is indeed a perfect movie for a fun date night.

Some movies have great stories told compellingly through technical direction and craftsmanship. These films keep you interested even when nothing important to the story is actually happening on screen. However, some films rely solely on charm and chemistry between co-stars for success. Date Night is not the first film, it looks slick and vacant of anything worth watching except for it's two stars. As casting goes, Date Night does keep you interested with the excellent pairing of Fey and Carell as a married couple. While the script struggles to provide enough clever banter to satisfy, their chemistry and ad-libs are what keeps the film going. Marky Mark, William Fichtner, Mila Kunis and James Franco show up for some pretty funny cameos, while Ray Liotta looks like he stumbled off the set of whatever his last crappy movie was and didn't step out of character. Oh, and Kristen Wiig and Mark Ruffalo are in this for, maybe two minutes. See it if you need to see Fey and Carell together on the big screen, I did

Predictable? Sure, this ain't a comedy that pretends to be more than a vehicle for the comedic abilities of the very likable Tina Fey and the sometimes over-the-top (but not so much in this movie) Steve Carrell.

Aside from the surprising cameos in this show, there aren't much surprises. This is one of those movies where there's a couple that's been in a somewhat fixed circle of boredom in their lives. Heck, even their regular date nights have been very predictable.

Steve and Tina are the Fosters; upon finding out that one of their closest couple friends are splitting up, they try to spice things up by having a date in the city. In a case of mistaken identity, their would-be date night winds up an action-filled, sometimes funny evening. Except for a few scenes, this movie isn't anything innovative; but it's still nice to see Steve and Tina play likable characters.

The producers of this flick know what they have in these two actors, and the movie is enough to give their comedic and acting chops (nothing like Steve's nice acting ability in Dan in Real Life) a little flexing. With this knowledge, I still recommend this movie to those who want to enjoy a little break from the action-3D-filled movies out there now. A little date with your significant other watching this movie would be good.