Date Night

How often does an ordinary couple get into something so ridiculous for no reason? Something like, go to the city for a date to spice up a fading love life and end up running from rogue cops and figuring out an entire shady case by six a.m.? It doesn't happen everyday, but if it did, seeing it played out by Tina Fey and Steve Carell is the best possible scenario. Some of television's brightest comedic talents reside in these two stars and they brought a concept that could have been dull to full, hilarious life. At times, their personal humour shines through, but it's hard not to push it aside. Fey and Carell are Claire and Phil Foster, a real estate agent and tax lawyer from New Jersey. Their married life is boring; their kids are hardly controlled animals who awaken in the day's fourth hour; and if one more thing goes wrong their life together might spiral out of control. But that changes when the couple take the initiative to spice things up, wanting only a fancy dinner in NYC. Instead, they take someone else's reservation (a common theme of how-dare-you karma throughout the film), toast with empty glasses and have a mighty price to pay as they find themselves chased around the city for evidence of a crime they know nothing about. What comes from this are incredibly funny scenes, one liners and a lot of famous supporting cast members. Mark Wahlberg plays the sexy, shirtless detective who comes through for the couple finding information, James Franco and Mila Kunis are the potty-mouthed pranksters who started the whole ordeal by not showing up for dinner, rapper Common is one of the rogue cops and there are plenty more. Levy and writer Josh Klausener took something that could have pushed many people's buttons about relationships and made it into a film so crazy it's somehow logical. Still, Date Night could have easily fallen by the wayside of short-lived comedies, but Fey and Carell are strong and the laughs will still come after numerous views. The DVD includes a gag reel, fake PSAs, behind-the-scenes of the directing and more.