Date Night Review: Formulaic Studio Action Comedy? Yes. Worth Seeing?…Yes?

When I came out of the theater after seeing Date Night, a major, major percentage of the moviegoers surrounding me were saying pretty much the same thing: that the movie’s two lead actors, NBC’s Thursday night TV comedy figureheads Steve Carell and Tina Fey, would’ve been better off just sticking to the small screen.

Huh? What? I mean, in a superficial way I get what they were all saying, but it was definitely not the fault of the actors. In fact, had any other actors played those two roles, the film would’ve been a catastrophe. I felt particularly bad for Tina Fey, having to maneuver through the stock schlock that Shrek veteran Josh Klausner saw fit to fill her mouth with.

The number of dialogues in which the basic idea was: “But Phil what are we going to do?!”, followed by, “I don’t know. Wait! I have a plan!” from Steve Carell, was quite staggering. Indeed, I suppose this all would’ve been passable, if we were going by the standards of stories that are geared towards young children, a fact that is bolstered by Shawn Levy‘s tame, by-the-numbers directing. Not that anyone should expect touches of the French New Wave or anything from a big budget studio comedy (this would of course just be distracting and inappropriate), but it would’ve been nice to see something other than exactly what you’d expect from the guy who helms the Night at the Museum franchise.

Actually all I really came away from this movie thinking, wow, as Carell and Fey’s performances demonstrated that they are a couple of pros. I could distinctly and clearly see  how comedic actors with strong improv background manage to keep so many run-of-the-mill comedies from sinking below the disaster line.

The absolutely loaded supporting cast brings it as well. Mark Wahlberg does his Wahlberg thing as well as he ever does. And there’s nothing wrong with this. He delivers his lines truthfully and believably, and thus the story gets across, which is really the only part of the actor’s job that really truly matters. I’m so tired of people (i.e. the Academy) who think that great acting only occurs when an actor “transforms” himself and becomes “unrecognizable,” deftly portraying a gay retarded pirate, or whatever it is that might be furthest from his natural mode of behavior and mannerism. Anyway, that was a long angry tangent that has very little to do with Mark Wahlberg.

So getting back to Date Night, it wasn’t until about halfway through the movie when moments that actually made me laugh-out loud took place. Some highlights include James Franco’s impassioned ranting and raving about his girlfriend (Mila Kunis) and her lack of sexual adventurousness, a hysterical cab driver (shades of Arsenio Hall’s Crying Man from Harlem Nights), and William Fichtner as a corrupt, depraved DA who is easily turned on by some pretty bizarre stuff.

These three things for me, were worth the price of admission alone. Not to mention the excellent, courageous work of the film’s two leads.