Tony Horton, the best fitness trainer in the world (if you haven't tried his P90X related products, do yourself a favor and order them now), explains that people's workout regimens usually fail due to what's called the plateau effect. That's when your body gets so used to a certain type of exercise (swimming, running, lifting weights) that it becomes too efficient and thus you stop seeing the results that initially got you all excited and kept you motivated.
Well, the plateau effect can occur elsewhere, such as in one's career if you stay at the same job too long and don't get the chance to do anything new. The bigger issue is in relationships, especially of the married kind. The spark and then red hot flame that initially fuels such pairings eventually burns a bit slower until it goes down to a holding pattern of simmer. As a result, spouses become glorified roommates and depression, resentment and/or anger rear their ugly heads over things that wouldn't have had much bearing early on.
Thus, just as people need to shake up their workouts, they need to do the same with their relationships. I'm not talking about extramarital flings, but rather finding new and exciting things to do and thus share the experience, just as occurred back in the early days. Phil and Claire Foster are in need of just that. He's a tax consultant, she's a real estate agent, they have two young kids who keep them busy when not harried, and thus the timing of end of the day romance usually just doesn't work. To make matters worse, some friends of theirs are splitting up, and separately point out issues they realize also apply to them.
As a result, this Jersey couple decides to drive into Manhattan and have a lovely dinner at the Big Apple's latest hot spot. Their quest to put a little spark back into their marriage, however, ends up firing on every cylinder, all twelve of them. The result is a night they won't forget, a sentiment the filmmakers behind "Date Night" hope moviegoers will share.
A romantic comedy of sorts (at least in terms of eliciting laughs from observational and identifiable humor) that turns into a mistaken identity action comedy (the type that populated the 1980s and '90s and recently misfired with "Did You Hear About the Morgans?"), this offering works better in its more simpler rather than frenetic form. Yet, its two affable stars certainly make the entire thing watchable and thus help it earn an ever-so-slight recommendation on nothing more than sheer entertainment value.
And those two would be none other than Tina Fey and Steve Carell, two of the brightest shining and funniest performers working in TV comedy these days. While this material -- penned by Josh Klausner -- is far below their abilities (or weekly output for that matter -- a perplexing discrepancy that continues between big and small screen writing), their chemistry together is quite good, as is their delivery of any number of facial expressions to their increasing quandary as well as lines of dialogue (the outtakes at the end suggest a lot of improvising might have been at play).
Considering that it's the old mistaken identity plot that fuels the basic story, it's surprising that Klausner and director Shawn Levy (the "Pink Panther remake, the "Night at the Museum" films) didn't milk that far all it's worth. In short, the couple -- desperate for a table at that trendy eatery -- pretends to be another couple that doesn't show for their reservations.
Little do they know that said missing people are knee-deep in some blackmail involving a mobster (Ray Liotta, sadly typecast but not given much to do, comedy-wise), corrupt cops (Jimmi Simpson and Common simply doing the menacing goon thing, also sans laughs) and even the District Attorney (William Fichtner who gets a shot at that as a sex pervert, although that falls flat as does the married couple awkwardly having to do a stripper pole sort of routine for him).
One need only think of "Get Shorty" for a similar film that expertly mixed crime, thugs and comedy to see what sort of offering this could have been with a little more creative effort. Instead, we get bad guys who play it too straight and various chases with guns firing. Even the stuck car bit -- where bumpers have locked two vehicles together -- isn't as fun as it might have been, although the stunt choreography is decent.
Running gags about various people (including Taraji P. Henson as another non-humorous cop character) being shocked that the couple would take another's restaurant reservation, Mark Wahlberg always being shirtless (playing an ex-military type turned security expert who makes Fey's character all giddy) and such do deliver some laughs. But like said relationship issues, the fun wears off a bit with each repeat occurrence.
Yet, Fey and Carell keep barreling through all of that and everything else the filmmakers throw their way, and do so with comedic gusto. I found some of it as too goofy and/or embarrassing (the aforementioned sex club dance routine topping that list), but the two performers are so good together, and elicit enough laughs to make all of that bearable, that you start wishing they'd end up in a TV sitcom together.
Where, natch, the writing and thus laughs would be better. "Date Night" is decent enough to be considered as just that for couples (and others) looking for some diversionary entertainment, but with a shakeup of the tired routine, it could have been so much better. It rates as a 5 out of 10.
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