the Informer

Although the trailer and hype behind “Date Night” had potential and allowed for a promising movie, I tried to go into the afternoon showing with an unbiased opinion of what I was to see.

Despite the fact that I did enjoy this film’s quirky humor, it was quite apparent that the farfetched plot line and ridiculous attempt at poking fun at mainstream America was just too much to handle.

Depicting a typical American family from New Jersey, tax lawyer Phil Foster (Steve Carell) and real estate agent Claire Foster (Tina Fey) are caught in the tangles of routine while their predictable marriage lacks variety and flavor.

When Friday evening, date night, rolls around and the couple is catching their breath from the stresses of the work week and parenthood, they find themselves with just enough energy to make it to their favorite local steak house for potato skins and salmon.

Amusing themselves by reading other couples’ body language and creating fictional back stories as they rummage through a typical conversation about work and the kids, the Fosters clearly lack spontaneity.

With the news of the Fosters’ close friends’ divorce, they immediately try to shock life back into their marriage by taking a stab at going beyond their ordinary plans for date night and they hit New York City. Lying their way into a reservation for a no show couple, the Fosters enjoy a classy meal in Manhattan’s hippest new restaurant, Claw.

A great opening sequence, it was at this point that I still had hopes for a more well played out transition and introduction to the date night dilemma. However, what followed and cut my hopes short was a drastic overly emphasized turn of events.

The simple mistake of the wrong identities saw the Fosters in a bind in a semi comical life or death scenario. Bizarre in nature, the protagonists act quickly on their feet to escape the custody of two thugs who claim they’ve stolen a flash drive containing vital information from them.

Interjected between critical points in the storyline, that helped shake and instill some satisfaction in me, were short yet impactful unanticipated attempts at humor. That is Steve Carell’s forte, I must admit that I laughed multiple times during the duration of the movie.

As the plot thickened and the trouble on the Fosters’ plate mounted, secondary characters, played by pretty big names, didn’t seem to assuage my overall opinion of the movie. Although Mark Wahlberg was given a few funny lines, his total performance came up short of the actor’s typical roles.

Along with Wahlberg are William Fichtner, Jimmi Simpson, James Franco and Mila Kunis. Collectively falling short with the nature of the film, my overall expectations may have been too high. Perhaps the balance of talent on the cast was offset by the mediocre script resulting in a below average production.

On with the humor and off with the story, “Date Night” didn’t quite meet the hype of what it appeared to be. Although I did enjoy parts of this movies attempt at altering the mindset of a married couple, the level of talent and potential this movie had at its disposal still disappointed.