Movie Review: Date Night

Oh, the lunacy!

Shawn Levy, the director of the Night at the Museum franchise, teams up with two of the comedy world's biggest talents, Steve Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Office) and Tina Fey (Baby Mama, 30 Rock, SNL), for an adventure that turns one couple's idea of a fun night out into a night of mayhem and danger, in Date Night.

Claire and Steve Foster (Fey and Carell) are a typical suburban couple from New Jersey. After receiving news that their seemingly happy friends from book club (Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Wiig) are getting divorced, they worry that all of their work, as well as the exhausting job of raising their two young children have made the marriage stale. In an attempt to re-ignite their marriage, the Fosters find themselves in hot water, and the absurdly funny antics ensue.

Complete with mistaken identities, surprise cameos, and one of the more deranged and hilarious car chases in recent memory — this movie delivers and brings audiences many laugh-out-loud moments. That there is also a beating heart at the centre of all this — a surprisingly sweet comedy about love and marriage — makes it all the more appealing.

Fey and Carell are great comedic actors, and their on-screen chemistry only enhances the fact. And what’s the best running gag in the movie? Well, all of the witty one-liners that catch you off-guard and add an element of awkward humour reminiscent of the kind of uncomfortable situations that mortify even those with the thickest of skin in real life.

Don’t wait around for the DVD — this movie should definitely be seen in theatres. See for yourself: Watch the movie trailer here. Date Night is in theatres on April 9, 2010.

— Kate Aenlle