"Date Night" Review

Gentle and not particularly surprising, Date Night delivers the expected goods from a light comedy. While that may sound like damning with faint praise, it's actually a good sign that if you go in with appropriate expectations, you'll be satisfied.

Steve Carell and Tina Fey are a New Jersey accountant and real estate agent with two kids and a marriage that's fallen into a bit of a rut. Concerned when a couple they know announce they're getting divorced, Carell decides to break them out of their "date night" routine of salmon and potato skins by going into Manhattan to a chi-chi restaurant called Claw that is so upscale, will.i.am ("You know. From Fergie," Fey says) eats there and the snooty maitre d's answer the phones, "Hello, Claw. You're welcome."

Naively thinking they could get a table on a Friday night at 7:30 in Manhattan without a reservation, it appears that they'll have to leave until he presents themselves as the couple for a table that appear to be no-shows. A pair of goons, thinking they're the absent couple, haul them out into the alley and threaten to kill them unless they give back a USB key drive with blackmail material. Unwilling to believe their story, Carell decides to bluff them by pretending to know what they're looking for. Hijinx across the city ensue.

Movies like this with ludicrous premises live and die on the execution and what keeps Date Night afloat is the great comic timing and chemistry of Carell and Fey. They're likable and you root for them while they fumble around town trying to outsmart their pursuers. Great cameos from Marky Mark, Kristin Wiig, Mark Ruffalo, James Franco and Mila Kunis pop up and when things slow down to talk about their relationship, it doesn't grind to a halt, thanks to the tight 90 minute run time.

What's best is the crazy phrases that these clearly too-square-to-be-hip pair spout off with and as the end credits bloopers/alternative takes clips show, the two of them improvised their butts off with Fey capping her reel with a line that absolutely kills Carell. (Tina, if you're reading this, me want to go to there.)

While not one for the Comedy Hall of Fame, Date Night is a worthy rental and a must viewing for fans of the stars.

Score: 7/10. Rent the DVD or catch at a dollar show.