DATE NIGHT
US, 2010, 88 minutes, Colour.
Steve Carrell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Taraji P. Henson, Jimmi Simpson, Common, William Fichtner, Kristen Wiig, Mark Ruffalo, James Franco, Milla Kunis.
Directed by Shawn Levy.
One of the great advantages of seeing film previews is that we often don't know a lot of details about a film or its plotline. That was the case here – and very enjoyable to discover what the date night was really like. But, advertising and trailers have let many audiences know something of what they are going to see, so there are some plot details mentioned here – but not to spoil enjoyment, rather to boost it.
Part of the attraction is the pairing of two fine comedians, Steve Carrell and Tina Fey, as Phil and Claire, a husband and wife with two bumptious children. They live in suburban New Jersey, rather conventional but comfortable, with good jobs and good friends and neighbours. There is the usual tension with their being so busy and the kids being energy-draining. They are often too tired for love and intimacy. And Claire is a controller and doesn't give Phil enough credit for initiatives.
So, it looks like a romantic comedy for 40 year old suburban couples with humour and some serious points.
Then Phil and Claire go on a date night in Manhattan, to a new seafood restaurant, Claw, and claim a free table that isn't theirs. Then the night goes beyond their wildest fantasies as they a confronted by two standover men with guns.
Watching Phil and Claire cope with a continuingly deranged night, which involves them eluding the pursuers, contacting police, enlisting the aid of Claire's former client, a shirtless Mark Wahlberg (who irks Phil), using wits and phony voices to discover the phone number and the address of the actual couple (amusing turns by James Franco and Mila Kunis), a Manhattan car chase with a taxi locked on to their car, a visit to a sleazy club and attempt to mingle as pole dancers where they try to make contact with the DA (William Fichtner) and fall foul of a gangster (Ray Liotta).
So, a different kind of romantic comedy! Which shows that date nights have the potential to enhance marriages!!
1. A romantic comedy plus? A romantic comedy for middle-aged audiences? Humour, serious touches, fantasy?
2. The New Jersey world, jobs and homes, restaurants, the contrast with Manhattan, the Claw, the police precincts, the lavish apartments, dingy apartments, seedy clubs, the roofs, the streets? The stunt work, especially the car chase? The musical score? The songs?
3. The title, for middle-aged couples, the weekly date night, eating out, talking, following the same routine, a bit of free time away from the family?
4. Phil and Claire, waking up at home, the kids and their bounciness, the meals, Phil at the office, explaining money deals to the couple who wanted to waste it all, Claire and the real estate agent, the clients waiting for the price to go down? Tired, the sexual relationship, the mouthguard? Agreeing with each other all the time? Claire and her bossiness, Phil feeling not appreciated, not allowed to make decisions? The meal out, the guessing about the stories of the couples they watched in the restaurant? The babysitter? Phil and his going to the women’s book club, reading the books, the discussions, the menstruation issues…?
5. The book club, the story, the issues, Phil reading the whole book, Claire not reading it all? The talk with Brad in the kitchen, Brad and Hailey breaking up, the reasons for the break-up, their seemingly a settled couple? Hailey and her explaining the situation to Claire, feeling free to do what she liked? Phil and Claire having to question themselves after this experience?
6. The date night, the decision to go into New York, the reputation of the Claw, the crowd at the restaurant, the desk and their being nothing available, their waiting, taking the table when the couple didn’t turn up? Enjoying themselves, the meal, the wine, the chat? The thugs and their arrival, the argument, having to leave the restaurant, the puzzle, the guns? The issue of the flash? Their resourcefulness in making up the stories, going to the boathouse, pretending the flash was hidden under the floorboards, hitting the thugs, the slowness of the boat, getting out, rushing through Central Park? Going to the police precinct – and seeing that the thugs were police?
7. The preparation for the issues, the DA on television, his broom, sweeping the city clean?
8. Claire, resourceful, going to the Claw, the performance to get the phone number of the couple? The plans, the fantasies and seeing the other side of their characters?
9. Going to find the address, setting the alarm off? Going to Holbrook’s apartment, the comedy with Mark Wahlberg, without his shirt, his Israeli girlfriend, the subtitles? His equipment, electronics, finding the address for them? Their later return to him for help, taking his car, the urging to put his shirt on? The police arriving to interrogate him?
10. Their taking the car, going to the Feltons’, going up the fire escape, caught by the couple, the couple in themselves, the blackmail, their arguing about their relationship, paralleling the discussions of Claire and Phil, the gun, their packing up and leaving?
11. The car chase, Holbrook’s car, Phil in Holbrook’s clothes? The elaborate chase, the two cars locking together, the reaction of the taxi driver? Going into the river?
12. The decision to go to the club, bluffing for their entry, changing the clothes, the pole-dancing, getting in to see the DA, his lascivious behaviour and talk, the reaction, going up on the roof? The gangster on the roof?
13. The gangsters, the club, Ray Liotta as the gangster, the police ringing him, his ringing his crooked cops, the reaction on the roof?
14. Phil asking Claire to trust him, counting to three, the helicopter arriving? The plan with the police woman? The arrests?
15. Happy going home, the reprising of the jokes during the credits – and the final joke with their alternate performances in going to the restaurant to get the phone number?
