Date Night

The new comedy vehicle for Steve Carrell and Tina Fey hit British cinemas recently and on Friday night i had the chance to see it along with a few friends.

Date Night follows Phil and Claire Foster during their once weekly dinner engagement after which the film is named. Due to the fact that they always go to the same place and eat the same thing both feel that their relationship, and marriage, might be in trouble. In an attempt to shake things up Phil decides to take Claire to a new and highly exclusive Seafood restaurant and after taking another couples reservation are mistaken for The Triplehornes, who have been blackmailing a mob boss. The next hour of the film follows them on the craziest date of their lives as they attempt to track down the Triplehornes and clear their names.

Carrell and Fey, the stars of two of US tv's biggest sitcoms (The Office and 30 rock respectively) certainly have chemistry on screen and thanks to their tv projects they're well versed in comedy acting too. You instantly get the feeling that these two could be a married couple and the parents to two young children.

The supporting cast are strong as well, Mark Wahlberg,William Fichtner , James Franco, Mila Kunis and Ray Liotta all lend their considerable talents to the film in a range of roles that fit them perfectly. All the above actors felt perfectly cast, they slipped into their roles and never had me thinking of them as anything other than the character they played. James Franco and Mila Kunis especially deserve praise for their turn as Taste and Whippit, the couple who the Fosters were mistaken for and set in motion the events of the movie. Wahlberg also takes some credit as the sudo-Bond character Holbrooke, who helps the Fosters in their quest to find the Triplehornes.

The set piece scenes in the film are both funny and original, the thrill a minute scene involving an Audi R8 and a New York yellow cab springs to mind immediately, as does the Fosters' daring escape by boat from the henchmen that have them held at gunpoint. The script is entertaining and funny, giving every character their fair share of the laughs while not falling back on the same old tired clichés that so many of these films tend to.

The film may be titled Date Night, but don't let that fool you into thinking that it's a typical chick flick with a few laughs thrown in to keep the blokes awake. This is a comedy first and foremost, it makes no qualms about the fact that it's main purpose is to make you laugh, and laugh hard.

Robinho