Saturday, April 10, 2010

Date Night

I was afraid Date Night, starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey, was going to end up being a mish mash of The Office and 30 Rock writing. We saw the trailer a ton of times and I wondered if it was going to be one of those movies where all the funny parts are in the trailer. I am happy to say that all the funny parts are not in the trailer.

This movie was very entertaining. Steve Carell and Tina Fey may not be as convincing as a married couple named Phil and Claire Foster, but they are the right actors for those roles. As a married couple with two kids, they take regular date nights, like a lot of couples with kids do. But their date night is the same old thing and nothing very exciting. However, one spontaneous date night turns into mistaken identity which the trailers lead into. A lot of silly antics and clever uses of resources lead them to find the reason why the people they are mistaken for are being targeted.

There are a lot of other well known actors in this movie. James Franco and Mila Kunis play the couple who are the ones the Fosters are mistaken for - the Tripplehorns. They are nothing but over the top. Which is fitting for their roles. Phil Foster and James Franco's character exchange a very childish name calling battle, which is actually kind of funny. William Fitchner is very kooky in his role as the District Attorney. I really enjoyed him in this role and thought it very funny to see him in this when I most picture him as the banker from The Dark Knight bravely saying, "Oh, the criminals in this town used to believe in things..." A Taraji P. Henson plays the detective investigating the Foster's crazy story. She did a great job and I really liked her. Then there's Mark Wahlberg who we all see in the trailers with his shirt off. And that becomes a long running joke in the movie. I have to say the exchange between Claire and Mark Wahlberg's character got to be a bit cheesy. But that was the only cheesy part in this whole movie.


There were a lot of funny parts to this movie that didn't rely on farting or punching someone in the stomach humor *cough* Will Farrell movies *cough*. There was the awkward humor that Steve Carell does so well in The Office. But Tina Fey took a nice turn in her role. We didn't see a bit of the awkward, geeky Liz Lemon at all, which was refreshing. The movie was funny, but I also wonder how much funnier it got to be since we saw it in a crowded theatre.

After the movie, Wes made a comment asking how much more we appreciate and understand this movie after being married. I think the underlying story of this movie definitely is understood better by movie goers who are married and even more so by movie goers who have kids. The parents barely find time for each other, are tired when they get home, and have just generally lost that spark that was first there. There are a lot of issues that I think a lot of couples can relate to. The nice thing about this movie is that the Fosters work through it all and in the end, know that they would pick each other all over again.

This movie is definitely worth seeing. If not at the theatre, go rent it and watch it with a bunch of friends. If you enjoy Steve Carell in The Office and like Tina Fey, you won't be disappointed in this movie. At the end, through the credits, they show bloopers and out takes, which I always love watching. So I'm sure once this movie comes out on DVD, the blooper reel will be even better. Oh and something fun to keep an eye out on, when the Fosters are in Times Square, see how many tourists you can see in the background watching them film the scene or taking pictures. How cool would that have been to see them filming? Go take a date night and see Date Night. Corny line? Yep.

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