Date Night [REVIEW]

The king and queen of NBC's primetime Thursday TV schedule hook up for their first movie together, and it's about as great as you'd expect. Date Night is a rom-com/crime thriller that goes above and beyond most Hollywood comedies in terms of quality, and genuine hilarity. And honestly, after looking at the credits for this film, and considering the plot, it's rather surprising how well this film turned out in the end.

With the director of such horrible comedic failures such as the Night at the Museum movies, Cheaper By The Dozen, and the Pink Panther, and a writer whose only other contributions have been to Shrek The Third, this film looks like it's built for disaster on paper. And honestly, is the directing or the writing top notch? Although the plot is never genuinely overlooked, it's many twists and turns are elementary at best, and some of the scenes would be generely worthless if they weren't readily available for comedic purposes. The directing is nothing ground-breaking, but it holds up well, and all of the scenes are shot with the same flair that was used in the Night at the Museum movies, just in a far more reasonable and rational film.

What really sets this film apart is the all-star cast it sports; Steve Carell (of the Office and The 40 Year Old Virgin) and Tina Fey (of 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live) star in this film, and their supporting cast is absolutely crammed. Ray Liotta, Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Mila Kunis, and Taraji P. Henson are some of the most noteworthy of this ensemble cast, and all of them hand in first-class performances even when they're not given the the greatest of characters. All of them add another dimension to their characters that make them take off of the screen, and everyone else in the film is equally good.

This is virtually a two-man show though at heart, and you'd think that Fey and Carell have been working together for years with the undeniable chemistry they have in this film. They play the role of a couple lacking excitement in their lives to perfection in the beginning of the film, although their characters aren't too much of a departure from their starring NBC roles. Later in the film, when it comes time for the two to provide more of a connection, they deliver two of the best performances of their career.

Although this film relies heavily on sight gags, the jokes are still sharp, and that's obviously due to the improvisation that both Carell and Fey are famous for. Despite there be so many jokes that rely on the actions taking place on screen, all of them are handled tastefully, and the film never delves off into slap-stick territory. Despite the fact that the plot is very exaggerated, and unlikely, the movie does keep one foot rooted in reality while allowing the unimaginable to help to the characters in the film in the meantime. That's where this film gets most of its charm, too; nothing is unbelievable, but anything that can go wrong, does.

This film stands amongst Pineapple Express and the Hangover as some of the best comedy adventures to have come out in the last two years, and stands out as its own seperate entity due to the romantic comedy elements. Rom-coms are hardly ever this clever, or gut-bustingly funny, and this is one of the few films that take the buddy comedy-approach and simply add a couple in their place. In an age where bromance movies are all the rage, Date Night is pretty damn charming,  and commendable for showing that romantic mishaps can be just as funny as drug or alcohol induced escapades.