Date Night (2010)

In a TV-comedy dream pairing come true on the big screen, funny guy Steve Carell and funny gal Tina Fey join forces in this madcap comedy. Perhaps an homage to the screwball comedies of yesteryear, Date Night has all the wit, action, and heart to please just about any willing viewer. It may not be an instant classic or live up to all the hype of its lead pair, but it’s got it where it counts.

Phil and Claire Foster (Carell and Fey) are in a bit of a rut. Married with children, approaching middle age (if not already there), and caught in a boring and repetitive suburban New Jersey routine, they are looking for a little excitement in life. When they go to a hip restaurant in New York City and steal a table from a no-show reservation, they get far more than they hoped for. In a case of mistaken identity, Phil and Claire find themselves running for their lives from gangsters and crooked cops.

It’s not so much the fact that mistaken identity comedies have been around forever that hurts this film. Rather, it’s the fact that two of the top funny people in the TV/movie business are in this film and the end result is not wall-to-wall funny. Yes, there are a lot of laughs to be had here but those laughs are not always the hearty belly-laughs that signify a great comedy. Carell and Fey are only working with the lines they’re given, so a fair amount of the blame needs to go to the scriptwriter for giving such moderately funny lines to such a dynamic duo. Still though, you would think that talented comedians would have tried a little ad-libbing to improve a scene or two.

Another attribute of the film that works both ways (good and bad) is the inclusion of so many colorful supporting characters. On one hand, it helps distract the audience from the fact that Carell and Fey aren’t being as funny as they ‘ought’ to be. Mark Wahlberg is hilarious as the shirtless security guy who repeatedly comes to the Fosters’ rescue. At the same time, it’s the kind of over-the-top stereotype character you aren’t surprised to see in a chase-comedy. A lot of the supporting roles are like this, which makes for some good initial laughs but the conceit wears out the longer you’re exposed to these folk.

What holds the film together is the likableness of the Fosters. Unless you’re deeply cynical towards middle-class, white suburban couples, it’s easy to root for them. They’re nice people who are just trying to keep life interesting- something most of us yearn for at some point in our own lives. It may help to be married, possibly with children too, to pick up some of the subtler quips and nuances. Young adults expecting something Hangover-esque will be disappointed but the rest of us will, at the very least, enjoy ourselves.

That’s the kind of movie Date Night is- one where you’re likely to enjoy yourself if nothing else. That’s certainly not a bad thing but it doesn’t make for a very memorable viewing experience. It’s a movie you wouldn’t mind tuning into if you come across it on the TV or, if you own it, one that you can pop in just about any time for a few easy laughs. While it would be nice for Hollywood to get back to making great films consistently, there’s also a need for more above-average comedies like this one.

RATING: 3.25 out of 5

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button* (2008)

Audiences, meet Oscar bait. Oscar bait, meet audiences. Bluntly speaking, that is what The Curious Case of Benjamin Button amounts to. It dabbles with a little bit of everything that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences typically goes gaga for. It’s a period piece of sorts, it’s a dramatic love story, it’s got lush scenery and visuals, plus brilliant stars and an accomplished director at the helm. Yes, for a while there, this was the film that everyone was talking about heading into awards season.

An elderly woman named Daisy (Cate Blanchett) lies dying in a New Orleans hospital as Hurricane Katrina looms outside. Though she has lived a long life she has one more story to tell- that of her many encounters with a strange and fantastic man named Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt). With her daughter at her side she begins to read from Benjamin’s diary a tale that spans 85 years.

Benjamin was born with a bizarre condition. As a baby he was shriveled like an old man and retained this appearance as he grew through his adolescence. Abandoned by his father, Benjamin is adopted by an African-American woman (Taraji P. Henson) and raised like a son. As he grows older numerically, Button’s appearance changes in reverse. Knowing that he is destined for a different life, Benjamin travels the world for meaning, crossing paths with Daisy at unexpected times. This leads to a complicated romance that spans decades.

From the previews, this film looked like it was going to be something like Forrest Gump with a more serious, fantasy-driven twist. Had this film been anything like that at all, it probably wouldn’t have been so frustratingly dull. Benjamin Button is two hours and forty minutes of moody drama. It’s easy to grasp the idea that Daisy and Benjamin’s romance will be difficult. How could it not? One person gets older while the other appears to get younger? There’s only so much time when their appearances would be similar enough to avoid controversy.

Benjamin Button may have lived a unique life but none of it is very remarkable in comparison with his condition. For a film that spans almost all of the 20th century, there’s very little intersection with history to be seen. Instead of placing the main characters in historical places at historical times, the world of Benjamin and Daisy melts through the years with little to no connection the ‘real world.’ There’s plenty of period detail but that’s where it ends. Maybe the filmmakers didn’t want to tie in notable events to avoid comparisons to Gump. Maybe they just thought it wasn’t right in order to keep the production tied to the spirit of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story (which I have not read).

Pitt and Blanchett do a solid job of playing two troubled individuals whose lives are intertwined. Hope, confusion, fear and sadness radiate from their faces. This, combined with a muted color palate dripping with mood and style, creates a film that is beautiful to look at but boring to watch. Deft direction, good camerawork and all the fine details are here. The only thing missing is an exciting story. Button is an intriguing concept but along the way to making a film that looks like a gorgeous still-life in motion they forgot to add a little life to the film.

I’m not asking for Button to wander through history and bump shoulders with a veritable list of who’s who, but placing him and Daisy in or around familiar events would have given audiences something to grab onto. Instead we’re left with another star-crossed lovers tale with a unique twist. It’s probably not artsy-fartsy enough to satisfy the art-house crowd but Button is a little too serious and artsy for general audiences to warmly embrace it.

While I found it to be a tedious viewing experience at times, I see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for what it is. What it lacks in livelihood it makes up for in all the other areas. For that reason alone it is a solidly good film. Taking a few more creative liberties with the script could have made it a real winner and a legitimate contender for Best Picture.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5