Date Night Movie Review

By Anne Brodie Apr 9, 2010, 17:10 GMT

Claire and Phil Foster (Tina Fey and Steve Carell) are a typical suburban couple whose lives including their weekly date nights of dinner and a movie have become routine.  To reignite the marital spark, they visit a trendy Manhattan bistro where a case of mistaken identity turns their evening into the ultimate date night-gone-awry.  But as Claire and Phil take their unexpected walk on the wild side, they begin to remember ...more

It may not be the comic explosion the pairing of Steve Carrell and Tina Fey might suggest, but Date Night is a winning, endearing, and often hilarious night out. Suburbanites Phil and Claire Foster are teetering on the edge of marital boredom.

They’re hoping a date night out at the local ‘family’ eatery will add oomph to the sexual / emotional desert of their stressed lives.  They clearly love each other, but they’re too tired to show it.  Sadly, the ‘date’ becomes a strategy session for the kids’ calendars.  But there is hope - Claire imagines out loud what exciting secret lives their fellow diners are leading.  At least we know she’s sharp and witty, and was once a fun person when she had the time.  Phil is flummoxed by their situation – unable to arouse a score later that night, he beats himself for not caring to ‘do it’ anymore, even their go-to ‘fast version’. 

So they decide to go on a real date, to a Manhattan fantasy restaurant that requires bookings a month in advance and an hour drive.  They can’t get in Claw past the attitude, so steal a reservation for the Tripplehorns.  During dinner, a couple of thugs (Common and Jimmi Simpson) order them to get up and outside, obviously thinking they have something they want.  The Fosters just get up and do it like they do everything in their lives and find themselves in the middle of a gangland situation starring a couple of corrupt cops, a missing flash drive and the mean streets of Manhattan.

Claire remembers a real estate client who was a security specialist, a black ops kind of guy (Mark Wahlberg) and tracks him down when they realise their lives are in danger.  Phil doesn’t much like him being so shirtless and super sexy, resulting in one of the film’s funniest exchanges.

Before long, our hopeless heroes have tracked down the Tripplehorns, (James Franco, and Mila Kunis) who deliver gut-busting comedy and the flash drive.  They make a daring and rehearsed escape leaving Phil and Claire to figure out the rest.  Soon the Fosters are delivering big laughs dressed for naughty sex and dancing on a pole in an underworld lair.
Thankfully Fey tones down her trademark juvenile shtick, and Carrell drops his hopeless dope routine.  They play actual characters that are real and funny enough to energise the movie but clueless enough not to be ironic.  They have to think fast and that’s fun to watch because they are fish out of water, which is where they eventually land, and act on their instincts.  Taraji P. Henson is a pistol, a good cop with great instincts and the gift of gab.

The requisite guns and car chases are here and don’t add much.  They’re a tad laboured and long.  Cameos – Mark Ruffalo, Will I Am, J.B Smoove and others aren’t onscreen nearly long enough. 

But the rest is a treat.

35mm comedy
Written by John Klausner
Directed by Shawn Levy
Opens: April 9
Runtime:
MPAA:
Country: USA
Language: English