Date Night (2010)

In New York City, a case of mistaken identity turns a bored married couple's attempt at a glamorous and romantic evening into something more thrilling and dangerous.

Director:

Shawn Levy

Writer:

Josh Klausner

Stars:

Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg

4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Carell	...	Phil Foster
Tina Fey	...	Claire Foster
Mark Wahlberg	...	Holbrooke Grant
Taraji P. Henson	...	Detective Arroyo
Jimmi Simpson	...	Armstrong
Common	...	Collins
William Fichtner	...	DA Frank Crenshaw
Leighton Meester	...	Katy
J.B. Smoove	...	Cabbie
Kristen Wiig	...	Haley Sullivan
Mark Ruffalo	...	Brad Sullivan
James Franco	...	Taste
Mila Kunis	...	Whippit
Bill Burr	...	Detective Walsh
Jonathan Morgan Heit	...	Oliver Foster

Storyline

Phil and Claire Foster are a couple who have been married for several years. Their days consists of them taking care of their children and going to work and coming home and going to bed. But they find time to have a date night wherein they go out and spend some time together. When another couple they know announce that they're separating because they're in a rut, Phil feels that he and Claire could be too. So when date night comes Phil decides to do something different. So they go into the city and try to get into a new popular restaurant. But when it's full and still wanting to do this, Phil decides to take the reservation of a couple who doesn't show up. While they're having dinner two men approach them and instructs them to stand up and go with them. They think the men are with the restaurant and want to talk to them about taking someone else's reservation. But it appears the couple whose reservation they took crossed someone and the two men work for this person. The men are after ...

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Plot Keywords:

reservation | restaurant | night | date | city | 

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Taglines:

On April 9th One Night Can Change Your Life.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual and crude content throughout, language, some violence and a drug reference

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hebrew

Release Date:

9 April 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Una noche fuera de serie

Filming Locations:

608 Vallombrosa Dr, Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,272,405 (UK) (23 April 2010)

Gross:

$98,711,404 (USA) (3 September 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 21 Laps Entertainment, Dune Entertainment III

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min 101 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

Dolby DTS SDDS Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite the fact that his character's minimal apparel is a running joke throughout the movie, there is a dedicated wardrobe assistant to Mark Wahlberg listed in the end credits.

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Goofs

When the Fosters are on the subway, the signs behind them indicate that they are on a 1 train, but the subway car does not match those that run on the 1 line.

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Quotes

Claire Foster: If we are going to pay this much for crab it better sing and dance and introduce us to the Little Mermaid!

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Crazy Credits

There are outtakes at the beginning and the end of the end credits.

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Connections

Featured in Late Show with David Letterman: Episode #17.117 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"SEX SLAVE SHIP"
Written by Steven Bingley-Ellison
Performed by Flying Lotus
Courtesy of Warp Records
By Arrangement with Zync Music Group, LLC

User Reviews

A Nutshell Review: Date Night

I wonder how many married couples out there can attest to their lifestyle being nothing but revolving around work, family and especially kids, with the latter just sapping whatever free time they have in their waking hours, only to find themselves stuck in a wash-rinse-repeat cycle. The film examines in a comical fashion of course, the lifestyle of the typical family with working parents and young children, and how there isn't anything known as personal time, and having routine becoming the rot in their lives.

For the Fosters Phil (Steve Carell) and Claire (Tina Fey), such is their married life, with spontaneity and energy being sucked so dry, even their regular date nights seem like a chore. You know, that precious night where you think you can paint the town red with a babysitter looking after the kids, and the sad thing being that even that can turn out to be lifeless, save for their favourite game played during dinner, where they adlib what they think about other diners around them.

Which is pretty cool, given that the two comedians, as the blooper reel played during the end credits showed, hammed it up a lot with awesome ad-libbing and improvisation, that never fail to bring on the laughter. In fact, opportunities where they are cut loose and allowed to go really crazy, are some of the best parts of the film, breathing comedic life into a very simple story of how their, well, little white lie in order to get a table at a swanky restaurant, would turn their date night upside down into a crazy urban adventure, filled with thugs, cops, and well, a beefy Mark Wahlberg.

If I had a physique similar to Wahlberg's security expert Holbrooke, heck I'll strut around topless as well all the time, which serves as a running joke about Man's insecurities about the pectorals and abs of another. One of the nicer themes here involves how couples, beside spending time together, have to emotionally connect and be honest and upfront about their desires, and especially fears as well. In between pursuits and comedy, director Shawn Levy pauses the pace appropriately to inject some dramatic elements to sneak in a moment or two to examine just that, before stepping on the pedal to floor the film to its finale.

Like I mentioned, it's otherwise a very straightforward film that doesn't try to be more than it can be, keeping things simple and to the point, with great cameo appearances with the likes of Will.I.Am, Mark Ruffalo, James Franco and Mila Kunis being those instantly recognizable. Carell and Fey share an excellent chemistry and play off each other's antics really well from wit to the timing of their physical comedy, and you'll find yourself rooting for this average, normal couple, to be going one up against their adversaries in a single nighttime adventure, since all they want is to get out of their predicament, and back to their home and children like all parents do.

Stay until the end of the credits if you didn't have enough of the restaurant scene where Carell and Fey pose as arrogant Euro-trash, for additional laughs.