Liz Lemon – Check
The 40 Year Old Virgin – Check
Put them together as husband and wife in a comedy about mistaken identity – Check
Mark Wahlberg with no shirt on, doing Minority Report Impressions - Check
Laugh your ass off at 2 of the funniest people on the planet – Well….
Date Night see’s Tina Fey (who’s on my list, you know the list, the lists that wives have to turn a blind eye to) and Steve Carrell, arguably 2 of the funnier people working today, team up. They’re your average, actually, well, yeah, your average boring couple living in a nice house in New Jersey. They’ve got the kids, they’ve got two good jobs and they’re boring as hell. They work, they’re part of a book club, and they go eat potato skins and salmon every Friday night, or as they like to call it Date Night. One such book club soiree makes them realise that they are a little bit too boring. So, upon their next Date Night, they go off to a fancy restaurant, try and get a table and can’t. They start their new lease on their boring life by taking a table in someone else’s name. Near the end of dinner, 2 hoods turn up and think they are the Triplehorns (!) and take them outside. In between a real cringe worthy line of “KILL SHOT, THATS A KILL SHOT” they try and convince said hoods that they are in fact Claire and Phil Foster. Either way, the nice gentleman branding the fire arms are convinced that Claire and Phil have stolen a flash drive (which contains something dodgy) belong to their boss. Liz Lemon and The 40 year old Virgin then go on a bit of a cat and mouse chase, which sees them get an Audi R8 attached to a Taxi, stare at a shirtless Mark Wahlberg and point a dodgy gun at James Franco. All the time while getting chased by the “bad” guys.
So what could go wrong with something like this? Surely with the attached cast (including a rather beaten looking Ray Liotta and a cool, shirtless Wahlberg ) the studio is onto a winner. Well….not entirely. The humour is very dry and might not work for everybody. Steve Carell and Tina Fey do have a very good on screen chemistry together, but at times are left spewing out dialogue that is quite wooden. You almost cringe at times, some of it is so bad. But on the other side of the coin, at times it can be quite funny. But not laugh out loud, till pop corn comes out your left nostril funny. It’s more of a silent laugh, Date Night brings. It’s like your brain is laughing, but decides it’s too much effort to cause your mouth to open and do the laugh motion. The pacing isn’t bad, but some of it is plain ridiculous. The plot itself is a bit out there and having an Audi R8 attached to a yellow cab, to me anyway, was just plain pointless.
Date Night isn’t a bad movie, and the cast and supporting cast aren’t bad for the best part, but it doesn’t really go anywhere and when it does it’s too ridiculous. A bit disappointing to be honest, saved only by the fact of the lead roles having great chemistry between each other and a rather erotic ending. And I really wanted this to be great. I love Tina Fey and Carell isn’t half bad either. Worth a watch if you fancy laughing, but not actually laughing. If that makes any sense, which it doesn’t, just like the movie!
