“DATE NIGHT” (Steve Carrell & Tina Fey)
I like these two actors (but not their TV shows) so I went into this ‘Out-Of-Towners’ rip-off with hopeful expectations.
Carrell & Fey play Phil & Claire Foster, parents of two young children who lead very boring lives. The problem with setting up a story about two very boring people is that the film has to start off by being very boring as well. But it does pick up eventually.
Claire puts on a cleavage revealing dress & suddenly Phil wants to take her someplace special for their weekly date night. They arrive at a posh Manhattan seafood restaurant without a reservation & hope to catch a break & get a table. While waiting in the crowded bar, the hostess calls out for the Triplehorns to be seated & Phil decides to steal the reservation by pretending to be the Triplehorns.
As the couple dine they are approached by two seedy looking men who escort them into the back alley & demand the flashdrive they stole from mobster Tony Moletti (Ray Liotta)
This is where ‘Date Night’ turns into ‘The Out Of Towners’ as Phil & Claire race thru New York while being pursued by the mob bosses’ hit men. & yes, my least favorite item, the elongated car chase scene, is included.
Mark Wahlberg plays an ex-client of Claire’s who helps them in so many ways its ridiculous, but his constant bare-chested appearance does set up Carrell to utter one of the movies’ funnier lines.
Things finally get humorous when The Fosters manage to track down the actual Triplehorns (James Franco & Mila Kunis who steal the film) but when the Triplehorns leave the screen, the movie lapses back into being boring & predictable.
This movie wasn’t scoring very high on my laugh-o-meter until the blooper reel that played with the closing credits – some people left early & missed them. The 4 best laughs of the movie are in the bloopers, so if you still want to go see this, don’t cheat yourself out of some genuinely funny moments by leaving too soon.
I don’t know if it was due to the fact that this old trick of trying to salvage some laughs from mundane material hadn’t been used for awhile, or if the fact that I wanted to laugh at this film but couldn’t find any reason to until the blooper reel rolled, but it boggled my mind that the best lines in the movie were left on the cutting room floor. Thankfully someone was smart enough to sweep them up & tack them onto the end of this mildly disappointing film.
3 comments:
I just thought it was unfunny. Some TV actors can make the move over to the big screen, but I don't think Carell or Fey can. But Hollystrange will constantly try to make stars out of supporting actors. Both he an Fey shine as character actors ( He in Little Miss Sunshine & Bruce Almighty- her in Mean Girls for example )
Also thought they'd have better onscreen chemistry and didn't feel that either.
I agree with your thoughts on the film, but disagree with the stars potential to be stars - Carell is already there with 40 Year Old Virgin & Little Miss Sunshine. I feel the problem with 'Date Night' was the material more than the actors. I think Fey is a better writer than performer, but I don't want her to give up trying just yet. I mean, she really hasn't been acting all that long - she was basically being herself all those years on SNL...
Carrel's biggest hit was 40. Since then, his work has been average at best. Dinner For Schmucks doesn't look much better. Maybe his co-star in that can elevate the film. Little Miss Sunshine was a ensemble piece too.
We aren't talking TV programs like The Office and 30 Rock. It's been proven time and time again and year after year that it's a small group of actors that can actually carry a film and be totally enthralling. It's actually pretty hard to pull off.
Fey just doesn't have the overall acting chops to carry a film as the leading lady. She even got overshadowed by Amy in Baby Mama. But she's perfect in support and ensemble pieces. She's a great writer. Doesn't mean that makes you a great actor. I like actors that know where they shine best.
Date Night was weak written material and nothing original either. Sad really... there's probably a thousand, new and original screenplay's laying to waste out there just floating around for totally average fodder like Date Night getting greenlit. Plus that director has never made a film I liked either. That's usually a big asterisk when seeing a movie for me. You kind of know what you are getting usually by knowing who the director is.
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