Date Night (2010)

Before I start talking about the movie itself, I would first like to point out that I am big fans of both of the stars involved with this film. Tina Fay is not only a beautiful woman but probably one of the funniest people in Hollywood. She is an amazing writer and I absolutely adore her show "30 Rock." As for Steve Carell, he is one of those actors who I really enjoy watching on the big screen and small screen. I have seen almost everything he has done from "Little Miss Sunshine" to "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and he has been really good at "most" of the roles he has played. With that being said when I saw the trailer for "Date Night" I was very excited to see what the end result of the film would be. So when the film finally opened in theaters, I made my journey to my local multiplex and treat myself to a "Date Night."

"Date Night" tells the story of the Fosters who are your typical American family. As part of their normal married routine, once a week Phil (Steve Carell) and Claire (Tina Fay) go out on a date to a local restaurant. One day after spending a night at their friends house, they learn just how mundane and routine marriage can be. After thinking about her own marriage, Claire decides she wants to make next week's date night special. She decides to get all dressed up to surprise Phil. When Phil comes home from work and sees Claire dressed to the nines, he decides that tonight is the night to switch it up for the better. Claire and Phil venture out to the newest Manhattan restaurant on a Friday night without a reservation. Once they get to the restaurant and get denied a table, Phil and Claire pose as "the Triplehorns" in order to get seated. While eating they get approached by two goons who think they are "the Triplehorns." This is where the fun begins as Phil and Claire's simple date night has turned into a night of mistaken identity and running for their lives from crooked cops and the mob. Lots of laughs and catchy one liners ensue...

Steve Carell's performance of Phil Foster was hilarious. He plays a combination of his "Get Smart" character and his "40 Year Old Virgin" character in the film. I think what makes me enjoy Steve Carell the most is that he seems like a typical down to earth guy. He is never over the top funny or zany guy like say Will Ferrell or Jim Carrey but just comes off like a normal "nice" and "funny" guy. As for Tina Fay, well she is great here. I think her one-liners were just the best. I don't know if she ad-libbed a lot of them but man she had some great lines. I also feel this role was a bit different from her normal roles, which I liked. While you do see her become "Liz Lemon" here at times, you also see a dirtier and different side of Tina Fay here. As for the other roles, there are a lot of famous faces who pop up here and there in the film including a funny appearance by Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, and Mila Kunis just to name a few.

Shawn Levy was the man in the director's chair. He is probably best known for directing the "Night at the Museum" films. I personally have seen most of Shawn Levy's films and have to admit while he isn't a great director, he is good at what he does. He is really good at creating fun films whether they are geared towards kids or adults. For the most part, I actually enjoy most of the films he directed. I think Mr. Levy knows his limitations and doesn't try to go above and beyond his means, which is a good thing. "Date Night" is probably his best film to date to be fair and if nothing else it's definitely his funniest.

"Date Night" was written by Josh Klausner who was the man responsible for writing the dull and lackluster "Shrek the Third." Luckily, Mr. Klausner redeemed himself with this film. I thought the dialogue was extremely well written and funny. The situations the two leads were placed in here humorous to say the least. Some of the scenes were just down right hilarious! Without giving too much away, the car scene as well as the strip club scene were two of the best in the film. I think after seeing this film now, I have more hope for "Shrek Ever After," which I was originally dreading to see since the last one was almost unwatchable since it was so dull and boring. But I will have to applaud Mr. Klausner here for writing a fun and enjoyable film.

Bottom Line: MovieManMenzel's final rating for "Date Movie" is a solid 8 out of 10. I admit I had a big smile on my face when I left the theater. "Date Night" was one of those movies where I just had a good time watching it. I think if you enjoy the whole "action/comedy" genre you will probably get a good kick out of it. If your fans of either Tina Fay or Steve Carell this is definitely a must see for you. I think overall it's a funny little film. It's nothing fresh or original but its definitely something that is brainless fun for 90 mins. Also, be sure to stay for the credits as there are a ton of outtakes during and after the credits, which are very funny.