logan fowler returns with a review of the hot new comedy with steve carrell and tina fey
Phil (Steve Carell) and Claire (Tina Fey) Foster are your typical married couple. Get up, feed kids, go to work, come home, watch tv, go to bed. They occasionally, however, enjoy date nights where they make fun of other couples going out on their dates.
One night, while at a book club, Phil learns that one of his friend’s wives is leaving him. He describes their relationship as routine and describes him and his wife as “excellent roommates.” With the image of Claire getting bored and leaving him sticking in Phil’s head, he decides for the next date night to change things up and dine in New York City at a high class, hard-to-get-into restaurant. When the couple is told that there’s no way they will be eating at said restaurant that evening, Phil decides to take the reservation of another couple who is a no show. What he thought would be one little risky manuever turns out to be, for the length of the film, the couple running for their lives. Hilarity ensues!
Date Night, I’ll admit, wasn’t one of the funniest movies I’ve seen ( I honestly don’t know what movie I’d award that to). However, there were some parts that made me crack a smile, some parts that made me chuckle, and some parts that made me laugh out loud. Since this has become era of the “R-rated-raunchy-but-with-heart” comedy, Date Night might seem pretty tame with a PG-13 rating. But make no mistake; the movie is very funny and at times, very sweet.
The film is also chock full of cameos, from Mark Ruffalo playing Phil’s friend that I mentioned earlier (Kristen Wigg plays his wife), to Ray Liotta as a crime boss who has direct ties to the no-show couple at the restaurant, to James Franco and Mila Kunis being that no-show couple in question, to, finally, Mark Wahlberg as a detective, who Claire, as a real estate agent, showed some houses to in recent past.
While these cameos certainly are worth mentioning and are great, the movie rests on the shoulders of Carell and Fey. These two are some of the biggest tv stars right now (Both Carell and Fey have won awards for The Office and 30 Rock, respectively) and pairing them up would seem like a no brainer. But in order to make any movie relationship work, the chemistry has to be there.
Don’t fret; the two work wonders together. The moments where their characters are more dramatic in questioning the strength of the relationship they share is highly believable-you will root for them. Also, the deadpan comedy of each blends well together, and they make an adorable couple that real life dating couples can view on their own date night (I saw it with a friend, but hey, it’s your call).
Date Night is a fun and, at times, heartfelt comedy that will at leave you smiling. While it may not have you bursting at the seams with laughter, the actors, cameos, and a hysterical car chase scene definitley makes it way more than memorable.
I give it 3 and half “killshots” out of 5.
Good review.