Steve Carrell ("The Office") and Tina Fey ("30 Rock") are two of the best comic actors working today. This delightful outing had the screening audience chortling from the first scene. In real life, both have been married to the same spouse for years, so they capture perfectly the essence of a marriage gone just a little bit stale. Our couple regularly hires a sitter and has a "Date Night," but they tend to take their daily cares along.
They suffer a shock when a couple with whom they have socialized announce their pending divorce. This motivates them to heat up their next date; Carrell promises a swanky meal at a swanky restaurant, but they can't get a table. While waiting in the bar, they hear a name announced repeatedly and realize that the folks by that name aren't there, so they pretend it is THEIR name and get a table after all.
Problem is, the no-show couple was hiding from some thugs, played by Jimmi Simpson ("The Invention of Lying") and Common ("American Gangster"), and this would-be romantic evening turns into a hilarious chase based on a mistaken identity.
Lending their comic talents to this wild escapade, are:
- Mark Wahlberg ("The Lovely Bones") is a former real estate client of our heroine...he never wears a shirt;
- Mark Ruffalo ("Zodiac") is the soon-to-be-divorced friend;
- Kristen Wiig ("Whip It") is the soon-to-be-divorced spouse;
- James Franco ("Pineapple Express") is the REAL guy with the reservation at the restaurant;
- Mila Kunis ("The Book of Eli") is his foul-mouthed but ever-lovin' spouse;
- Ray Liotta ("Battle in Seattle") is a wiseguy capo;
- Taraji P. Henson ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") is a cop to the rescue;
- and Will.i.am (Black-eyed Peas), does a cameo as "Will i Am"...
all of whom play it completely "straight," which of course, adds to the comedy.
No sweaty bodies, no blowie uppie stuff, but LOTS of gunfire and vehicular mayhem. And a good time was had by all!