Review

Review Date: 11-April-10
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Date Night (2010)

April is probably a good month for Date Night's release. Middle-class couples, recovered from Christmas spending and reawakened by the prospect of spring, are looking up from their laptops and saucepans and saying, "Isn't it time for our belated Valentine's Day?" And here it is, the ideal picture for their dinner-and-a-movie outing. Date Night is about an average American couple named Phil and Claire Foster, working parents, residents of suburbia, and respectable citizens who love each other but never have any fun. The comedic talents of Steve Carell and Tina Fey are used to create an affectionate, sitcom-y vibe which invites audiences to laugh with the Fosters more than at them. They are not intrinsically boring or unsexy people, after all; it's just that jobs, house, and kids command all their time and energy.

Still, they make a point to step out together regularly. One night after learning about the divorce of some friends, they try to heighten the romance by dressing up and heading to a swanky new restaurant in the city. The excitement of the moment causes Phil to claim a table reserved for another couple, which unintentionally launches an adventure. Believed to be a pair of blackmailers, Phil and Claire soon find themselves running for their lives pursued by armed thugs. Their naïve gumption both amuses and endears as they commit felonies, attract the notice of the police, and impose on a black-ops mercenary whose world is the antithesis of the suburban doldrums. (He is played by Mark Wahlberg, getting the most screen time among many familiar faces in supporting roles.) A chase scene involving interlocked cars tops most of the stuff you see in action flicks, and while the phrase "classic pole dance" is an oxymoron, Phil and Claire almost achieve one before the wee hours are through.

While relieved at the restraint of Date Night (it's neither too dumb nor too crass), I wish it went a little deeper and got a little wilder; at the very least it should have granted the Fosters their share of the lust they keep witnessing. As it is, the escapade provides them a frame of reference rather than a rejuvenation. It doesn't really change them as individuals or mates, but it reminds them that their marriage is something to cherish no matter how harried or pinched. If that isn't a message for a date night, I don't know what is.

Copyright © 2010 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.