Film Fest

June / July, 2010

A Hard Date's Night

Date Night (20th Century Fox, 2010)
PG-13 for sexual content, language, some violence
Directed by Shawn Levy
Starring Steve Carell, Tina Fey

By Bernie Sauer

The pre-summer comedy hit, Date Night, dabbles in suburban marriage matters, police corruption, and the art of locking your front bumper to the front bumper of a New York taxi cab in the midst of a car chase. A crazy mixed bag in category and appeal, but with Steve Carell and Tina Fey doing the work, the result is downright likable.

Carell and Fey are king and queen of today's comedy in The Office and 30 Rock, respectively, so it's not surprising they can conjure up plenty of laughs. They play a realistic, modern-day married couple in search of that old "spark" they once had in their relationship. To spice up their regular Friday "date night" away from the kids, they decide to try a new, trendy restaurant in Manhattan.

To their dismay, the swanky joint only takes reservations a week in advance. This won't stop Carell, though, who is willing to live life on the edge and do anything to make this date night sparkle for his hard-working wife. So, when the "Tripplehorn" party is announced several times and no one responds, he takes the name and steals the reservation. The crab dinner may be immaculate; but from here on out, all sorts of whacky things happen as whacky thugs mistake the innocent couple as the Tripplehorns.

Kristen Wiig, Mark Ruffalo, Ray Liotta, James Franco and Mila Kunis make winning cameo performances, but the recurring joke by Mark Wahlberg as a shirtless, muscled spy guy takes the cake (the term "shirt up" will forever hold new meaning).

From Central Park to Times Square to subways and strip clubs, we follow Carell and Fey on a chase that may be a bit too action prone for some (car chases are so passé these days), but the laughs that come out of their improvised bickering are worth the ride. Be sure to stay through the ending credits to get an idea of how Carell and Fey can ad lib one scene and move into several hilarious directions. They are at their peak in today's comedy world, and it is sheer entertainment to see them together in a movie.

Bernie Sauer is the music teacher at Regis Jesuit High School, Girls Division. Currently, he is pursuing his doctorate in Music Education at Boston University online. When time is free, movies are standard. Please send your comments to Bernie at Berno1206@msn.com.