Review: DATE NIGHT

Work, kids, monotony… DATE NIGHT is definitely a movie for couples that have been together for a long period of time!

Phil and Claire Foster are a boring couple from New Jersey. Phil (Steve Carell) goes to book club with his in-control wife Claire (Tina Fey), they have a sex pattern that involves whether or not Claire is wearing her retainer, and they go to the same restaurant every Friday for their same old date night. After a couple that they know decides to split, Phil and Claire decide to spice up their relationship and do something different… They are going into the city for dinner.

When they arrive at their super hip destination, they realize that there is no way that they are going to get a table. Phil then takes someone else’s reservation, the Tripplehorns, who obviously didn’t show up, and this is where the trouble starts. Two twisted gentlemen mistake the Fosters for the couple that originally had the reservation, and threaten to kill them if they don’t get the flash drive. After a narrow escape, Phil and Claire are now on the run, trying to save themselves from certain doom.

This movie was pretty darn funny, but not the kind of funny that I expected. I expected 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN funny, and instead, it was more of a romantic comedy meets date movie. The best way to describe it would be something that I could take my mother to. Tina Fey is one of the hottest comics right now, especially with the success of 30 ROCK, and Steve Carell is hysterical in anything that he is in. There is definitely a charm about him that makes him likable in any role that he plays. The two make for a quick-witted dose of humor, despite a relatively predictable storyline.

There are a lot of great cameos in the film as well. Mark Wahlberg plays a shirtless, intelligence savvy, ex-client of Claire with quite the bachelor pad. I must say, he is quite a tasty snack for the eyes, and I give his performance 5 stars just for being allergic to a shirt. He is kind of a joke  in the film, making Phil feel inadequate and turning Claire into a babbling teenager. Mila Kunis and James Franco play Taste and Whippit, aka the real Tripplehorns. They play an amazingly dumb young couple, who are fantastically  trashy, but also madly in love. There are also cameos by Ray Liotta, Kristen Wiig,  Will.I.Am, Mark Ruffalo, and William Fichtner. Common and Jimmi Simpson play the corrupt cops that are chasing down the fosters, and they do it rather well. I’ve been creeped out by Simpson since he played Liam McPoyle on IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA. Leighton Meester also makes a cameo by playing the Fosters babysitter.

Overall, I feel like they did a great job of making a movie that couples can relate to. It’s a bit tame for Fey and Carell, but a perfect movie for a date.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars