Date Night

Two of Americas premier comedians in Steve Carell and Tina Fey team up for Date Night, a film that is slight in running time, slight in script, but crucially, very funny. Despite being a loving couple, the Fosters (Carell and Fey) feel the staleness of marriage coming in. Therefore, during a date night (natch) at a fancy restaurant, and on having trouble getting a reservation, on the spur of the moment they steal someone else’s table. This leads to a chain reaction of outrageous events coming across like a mixture of episodes of Seinfeld and Frasier. The plot itself utilises the classic 21st century MacGuffin of a computer memory stick in order to dump Carell and Fey in ever more farcical situations. The screenplay is basically just an extended series of skits, but you’ll be laughing too much to care about the ludicrousness of it all. Though they bounce off a number of other characters throughout the film, this is the Carell and Fey show all the way, both showing their comic timing and their gifts as physical comedians as well. Director Shawn Levy moves the film along at breakneck speed so any gags that fall flat are quickly forgotten about. He also shoots one of the more original car chases for quite a while. This will probably remind you a bit of After Hours, but, despite the subject matter of guns and attempted murder, this is a might lighter affair. On the down side you might find this just too ludicrous and non-sequential to be coherent. In addition, the short running time means that other actors (William Fichtner, Mark Wahlberg, Ray Liotta) are rail-roaded in favour of the Carell/Fey juggernaut. Mark Ruffalo even appears in a bizarre one minute cameo (why?), though James Franco fares better in a longer scene. Overall then, this will probably leave the memory pretty quickly, but for the hour and a bit you spend watching it you’ll be chuckling at regular intervals.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Some faults, no doubt, but this is a comedy film with many laughs. The point, no? Rating: 7/10