Disenchanted Suburbanites Get More Excitement Than They Bargained For in Date Night

I generally get a kick out of Steve Carell’s characters, and I often find Tina Fey funny, so I was interested to see that they had co-starred in a comedy-adventure. I don’t ever recall seeing a preview for 2010’s Date Night, written by Josh Klausner and directed by Shawn Levy, so when my cousin and I stumbled upon it recently, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but she reported that she’d seen it and found it funny. While I didn’t end up liking it as much as most of Carell’s comedies, it was a fairly fun romp.

Phil (Carell) and Claire Foster (Fey) are a busy couple living in the suburbs of New York City. They both keep pretty busy with their jobs, and Claire spends a lot of time running the household as well. Alone time with each other is rare, and when they do go out to dinner, their favorite pastime is poking fun at nearby couples by imagining ludicrous conversations for them. But when friends of theirs decide to separate, Phil and Claire decide to put some spice back into their marriage by having a real date night. What starts out as a romantic evening escalates into a series of disasters as they get caught up in a world of thugs and theft.

Fey and Carell both have serious comedic chops, and they’re on display here much of the time, though the dialogue is rather hit-and-miss. Too often the movie substitutes “crude” for “funny,” with the result that this tale of rekindling romance in middle age often feels like it was written by junior high schoolers. On the other hand, there are genuinely funny moments, and Carell and Fey make a nice couple. They feel believable together, and their squabbles throughout the film seem a natural outgrowth of two people who are used to each other but now have more of a tendency to see each other’s irritating habits than their endearing qualities. As absurd as some of their adventures throughout the night are, it’s sweet to see them rediscover what attracted them to one another in the first place.

The movie has slapstick aplenty, particularly in the form of elaborate car wrecks. One sequence in which the Fosters’ car becomes entangled with a hapless cabbie is especially memorable. While Fey and Carell anchor the movie, various supporting players also add to the humor, or sometimes to the groans. I didn’t find much to like about William Fichtner as D. A. Frank Crenshaw, who spends most of his time on screen lusting creepily after various exotic dancers, particularly the under-cover Fosters. I found Ray Liotta’s performance as a mob boss rather corny but fun, and James Franco and Mila Kunis provide some of the movie’s biggest laughs as a pair of petty thieves who get mixed up with the Fosters and unwittingly help them rekindle their passion. As suave millionaire Holbrooke Grant, Mark Wahlberg doesn’t have to do much beyond standing around looking like a shirtless Ken doll, but his brief moments of interaction with the Fosters drive much of the movie’s action.

Date Night isn’t a movie I would watch more than once, but it made for decent late-night viewing for my cousin and me. Carell and Fey both have better movies to offer, but this wacky comedy isn’t a bad way to kill a couple hours.