Despite the comic talents of Tina Fey and Steve Carell, Date Night is sorely lacking in the laugh department. It is not funny enough to be a good comedy, and not interesting enough to compensate for the lack of truly funny moments. The charm of the stars and the strong supporting performances cannot make up for the poor script.

Claire (Tina Fey) and Phil Foster (Steve Carell) are a happily married couple with small children, but they are beginning to tire of their regular “salmon and potato skins” date night. In an effort to spice up their romantic life, they try dinner at a trendy New York restaurant.   After a long wait, they take the reservation of another couple, the Tripplehorns. Before they finish dessert, two crooked cops (Jimmi Simpson and Common) point guns at them and demand a stolen flash drive. The case of mistaken identity has the Fosters on the run from cops and criminals all over New York, and culminates in a big show down at a strip club. Will they survive the night or will Claire and Phil have to strip?

The biggest problem with this film is the predictable and inane script by Josh Klausner. The car chases and other action sequences are not really interesting because we never believe that the Fosters are in danger.  The comedy scenes arising from the “danger” are not nearly funny enough, perhaps because the situation is so contrived. The film is best when it focuses on the small moments between the Fosters and we glimpse their relationship. My favorite scenes in the film are those when the Fosters visit Claire’s former client Holbrooke (Mark Wahlberg). Holbrooke is a cool spy type who is shirtless in every scene. Claire and Holbrooke flirt, much to Phil’s chagrin. When they discuss Phil’s insecurities, he says that he wants to be more than the guy who cannot load the dishwasher correctly. Their conversation is funny because it seems authentic.  I would have been much more interested in a film about this couple and what might really happen when they take a reservation that is not theirs.

Steve Carell and Tina Fey are charming and likeable as usual, and the Fosters seem like an actual married couple. They are amusing as they use fake accents and speculate on the relationships of other patrons, but these rare moments of comedy have nothing to do with the plot of Date Night. The other comedy moments seem forced, and somewhat desperate. One senses that the scene of Carell and Fey in the strip club was intended to be hilarious, but instead it seems rote. Carell and Fey seem much too comfortable with their dance, and discomfort is what is needed for the scene to provoke laughs. The funniest scene in the film belongs to James Franco (Taste) and Mila Kunis (Whippit). Taste and Whippit are the criminals using the name Tripplehorn.  Despite their rough looks and behavior, they react with shock and disgust when they learn that the Fosters took their dinner reservation. “Who does that?” Franco yells.  They argue and are over the top, but somehow are believable. They steal the scene and I wished the film had more scenes with Franco and Kunis.

If you are forced to endure Date Night, stay through the end of the credits. The outtakes of Fey and Carell are terrific.  They are much funnier that any of their scenes in the film. I wish Date Night had provided Fey and Carell with better material.

Date Night. Directed by Shawn Levy.  Steve Carell (Phil Foster) Tina Fey (Claire Foster), Mark Wahlberg(Holbrooke) Jimmi Simpson (Armstrong), Common (Collins), James Franco (Taste)and Mila Kunis(Whippit). Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 2010.  

 

Gail sees a movie appears every Wednesday.

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