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 The
Fosters are in a rut. Phil and Claire have two kids, a nice house in
the ‘burbs, two sensible, steady jobs and they belong to a book club
with a circle of married friends. In other words, the Fosters are, as
Claire puts it, “a boring married couple from Jersey.” Even their
weekly date night is routine, consisting of potato skins and salmon at
the local tavern. As they witness the demise of the marriage of a
couple of pals, Phil and Claire begin to question what their own
relationship has become and are determined to change it, amp it up one
date night at a time. To this end, Claire gets gussied up and Phil
eschews the weekly potato skins for a spontaneous night in the big city
at a popular restaurant Claire read about in a magazine. After feeling
the sting of rejection by the snobbish door staff, Phil and Claire
purloin the reservation of a no-show couple, the Tripplehorns. Who
could it hurt, right? It’s this petty identity theft that will find
them pursued all over Manhattan by some gun-toting characters looking
for the real Tripplehorns. The mild-mannered Jersey couple is in way
over their heads and unable to trust the local police, so they initiate
their own hunt for the actual Tripplehorns and try get back to the
safety of the Garden State without getting killed.
Like I said, not exactly thought-provoking stuff, but thanks to its
cast, more fun than it sounds. Date Night is a comedy caper in the mode
of 1979’s Foul Play with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase or 1983’s Trading
Places with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. The premise of ordinary folks
sunk in an outrageous and often life-threatening situation has made
audiences laugh for decades and the scenario is made fresh with the
whiplash smart humour of Date Night’s two stars, Tina Fey and Steve
Carell. These two comedy satellites have circled each other for years
on their respective television shows {Fey’s 30 Rock and Carell’s The
Office}, joining here to elevate this slight vehicle to a height it
wouldn’t have obtained otherwise. The wisdom in casting Fey and Carell
together is in the perfect symmetry of their humour; both are best at
reeling off lines of sharp, urbane wit, yet are so likeable that neither
is above slapstick, a must for Date Night’s level of light-hearted
absurdity. They have a sweetness that makes you care about their Jersey
married couple, making the film’s awkwardly inserted emotional moments
tolerable, but nailing the archness of scenes like their weekly game of
making up wicked life stories and dialog for unsuspecting diners in
their vicinity and their second wiser infiltration of the snobby
bistro. Claire and Phil’s “audition” at an underground strip club is
pure silliness that works in Fey and Carell’s unselfconscious hands.
Date Night is blessed by the amount of evident improv that both stars
incorporate brilliantly. The supporting cast is clearly up for whatever
is thrown at them, particularly Mark Wahlberg, with a physique
hearkening back to his Calvin Klein days, playing a security expert and
former realty client of Claire’s whose rippling muscles refuse to be
contained by a shirt. Wahlberg’s laid-back man-of-the-world is a
perfect foil for the panicked jitters of Phil Foster, who doesn’t
appreciate his wife’s acquaintance with this helpful hunk, or his
virile, high-paying lifestyle. James Franco and Mila Kunis are the
Tripplehorns, a pair of trashy, low-class criminals whose devotion to
each other despite their drug use, thievery and prostitution is a life
lesson to the Fosters. J.B. Smoove is also amusing in a small role as a
taxi driver who gets pulled, literally, into the Foster’s wild escape
ride. My one issue with casting was the lack of Ray Liotta. When
you’ve got Liotta in your movie, use him well and often. Liotta’s
presence in any film creates an expectation that something - we don’t
know what - but something big is going to happen, and sadly this
momentum was not met. Attention, director Shawn Levy, more Liotta in
the sequel.
Thanks to the bottomless wells of comedy gold that are Tina Fey and
Steve Carell, Date Night turns in its share of laugh out loud moments.
This fond return to the comedy capers of years ago owes everything to
the wit and sharp improv skills of its stars. It’s their likeability
and charm that brings the audience along for the fun and silliness of
one wild Date Night.
~ The Lady Miz Diva
April 9th, 2010
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