Date Night ** (2010, Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg) – Classic Movie Review 5529

It’s time we had a really good comedy thriller again – it’s just this isn’t it.

Likeable Steve Carell and Tina Fey have the right funny stuff as Phil and Claire Foster, an over-busy New York suburban married couple who get more than they bargain for when they try to spice up their boring love lives. Their romantic night out in Manhattan ends up with them on the run from mobsters after a mix-up at a posh restaurant.

The main casting trouble in director Shawn Levy’s 2010 movie is that Carell and Fey’s acts are exactly the same, when an odd-couple pairing is needed, bringing an onset of dullness, boredom and repetition. And all of those are re-enforced by Josh Klausner’s patchy, increasingly desperate script that prefers knockabout to subtlety every time. However, there are some laughs from the efforts of the star duo, and from the OK one-liners and slapstick situations, some of which are spot-on and expertly delivered.

But, it is a big fat condemnation of the movie that most of the laughs come from the non-comedic Mark Wahlberg as Holbrooke, even if it’s a one-gag joke about him always having his shirt off when the couple keep appearing in his apartment. There’s plenty of eye candy here, ladies, and plenty of irony too as Wahlberg has lately refused to strip for the cameras now that he is designated a real actor.

Funny stuff from a game Marky Mark, then, but the best part of the movie is before the thriller plots kicks in. It might have made a hilarious domestic comedy.

Also in the cast are Taraji P. Henson, Jimmi Simpson, Common, William Fichtner, Kristen Wiig, Mark Ruffalo, James Franco and Mila Kunis.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5529

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