Review of Date Night (2010) by Chads — 10 Apr 2010

The success of "Date Night" is directly attributed to the chemistry between Steve Carell and Tina Fey, who despite being A-list stars, could be your neighbors, or the handsome couple you meet at a party.

Playing Phil and Claire Foster, the relatively unglamorous NBC headliners of "The Office" and "30 Rock", respectively, have a middle class air about them, which allows the pair to blend in seamlessly among the other patrons at the family restaurant where their characters listlessly feast on a middle class dinner of potato skins and salmon.

Phil is like the second-person narrator in the Talking Heads' track "Once in a Lifetime", the David Byrne-written masterwork about how ennui can creep into even the best of marriages. Friday night is "date night", and it's the "same as it ever was".

Later in the film, Phil almost literally says, "This is not my beautiful wife," after Claire flirts with a shirtless Mark Wahlberg, who not only emasculates Phil, but half of North America's males, as well.

Too bad this well-oiled comedy team wasn't cast in a more ambitious film along the lines of Albert Brooks' "Lost in America", or even Ted Demme's "The Ref". They connect with each other, and the audience.

Thankfully, the pair's impeccable comic timing and lighthearted temperament help prevent their Kafkaesque situation from becoming too heavy-handed and steeped in testesterone. So often in action-comedies, spectacle(gunplay, car chases, etc.

..) neutralizes, and ultimately, stamps out comedy(for example: "Beverly Hills Cop 2"), because its characters in peril end up acknowledging the danger around them with too much reverence. Except for one overlong car chase scene involving a taxi cab(as if Tony Scott guest-directed a segment for Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth"), "Date Night" never forgets that it's a comedy.

Both Carell and Fey strike the right balance of gravity and levity throughout their ordeal, which also staves off the excessive silliness so common in modern comedies, where the narcissistic performer often resorts to schtick.

They're scared, but not so scared that their absurdist banter and goofy antics are replaced by kinesis(running, dodging bullets, etc.). In addition, both Carell and Fey(far from being narccisists) generously allow Wahlberg, and especially James Franco and Mila Kunis, get laughs, big laughs.

"Date Night" is predictable, but harmless infectious fun. Since the two television veterans are so appealing together, however, the moviegoer wishes the Fosters would quit their jobs, buy a winnebago, and drive across America with Steppenwolf cranked all the way to eleven.

They could also be the people that David Byrne sings about on the "Remain in Light" track "Once in a Lifetime".