Date Night – movie review by Kate

Date Night – movie reviews by Kate

Reel reviews for real people

Rating: PG-13 for sexual and crude content throughout, language, some violence and a drug reference

Genre: Action/Adventure

Plot: Action-comedy maestro Shawn Levy, the director of the blockbuster “Night at the Museum” franchise, teams up with two of the comedy world’s biggest talents, Steve Carrell (“The 40 Year Old Virgin,”… Action-comedy maestro Shawn Levy, the director of the blockbuster “Night at the Museum” franchise, teams up with two of the comedy world’s biggest talents, Steve Carrell (“The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “The Office”) and Tina Fey (“Baby Mama,” “30 Rock,” “SNL”) for an adventure that turns a run-of-the-mill married couple’s date upside down — way upside down, in DATE NIGHT.–© Official Site

Starring: Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Mark Wahlberg, James Franco

Kate says – 3 stars “Here’s what you need to know about this movie. It is funny…really funny. In fact, it is as funny as you’d hope  a movie with Steve Carell and Tina Fey would be. Wow, these guys are good! So good, that it doesn’t even really matter that the story line is a bit weak and silly. I laughed more at this movie, than at any other movie in recent memory, as did the audience at my screening. Also a brief warning though. Date Night is also a bit more crude than I expected and definitely earns the PG13 rating, so keep that in mind when your pre-teens beg to see it. I would suggest a parental viewing first so you can make your own decision on this one.”

Ebert says – 3 1/2 stars “A movie like “Date Night” encourages Hollywood comedy to occasionally dial down, and realize that comedy emerges from characters and situations and can’t be manufactured from manic stunts and overkill…Carell and Fey are both natural comic performers, who know (as Second City teaches) that a comedian must never seem to know that it’s funny. They play Phil and Claire as nearly as possible like plausible people trapped by this nightmare misunderstanding. Yes, things heat up a little, and yes, there is an obligatory chase scene, and yes, it’s a little unlikely how they end up appealing to the security expert. That goes with the territory.” (read full review)

Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) says 2 1/2 stars “Here’s proof that Tina Fey and Steve Carell could squeeze laughs out of a phone book. Josh Klausner’s script for Date Night, in which they play Phil and Claire Foster, a New Jersey couple trying to liven up their dull marriage with a glam date in the Big Apple, rivals the Yellow Pages for dry and utilitarian.And yet their teamwork turns it into comic bliss.” (read full review)

Claudia Puig (USA Today) says – 3 1/2 stars “Tina Fey and Steve Carell make Date Night an absurd and wildly amusing night to remember. This is the rare screwball comedy that is superbly paced, cleverly plotted and hilarious from start to finish.” (read full review)

Rene Rodriguez ( Miami Herald) says – 2 1/2 stars “Date Night is littered with funny moments – it’s a lot more amusing than the trailer suggests – but the movie must eventually surrender to its irrelevant plot and Levy’s impersonal direction, and you leave the theater satisfied yet strangely displeased. That’s what happens when good actors are stranded in a lame movie that is not worthy of their talents. Carell and Fey deserve better material: Here’s hoping they get another chance to work together soon.” (read full review)

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