Date Night--Defying My Expectations

I was sure I was going to hate "Date Night," the longest night ever, hi-jinks filled comedy starring Tina Fey and Steve Carrell. Critics and magazines all over the place have panned the film. This filled me with a deep, nearly spiritual sadness: as a glasses wearing, intelligent brunette, I tend to view Fey as the ultimate life role model. (My boyfriend and I waited two long weeks before going to see it. We probably wouldn't have gone if it weren't for the free movie ticket I had...)

But I was pleasantly surprised. While the acerbic randomness of Fey was wasted and Carrell was made to be the straight man a bit too much, overall "Date Night" was a pleasant jaunt into the realm of zany film comedy.

The flat-out best sequence was a car chase. Normally, I detest car chases--unless they're in a film that's actually about cars. But this one featured reverse racing, cars hooked together, a Kindle, and a pseudo marriage therapist. Amazing.

"Date Night" could have been better, but for what it was, it was pretty good. At 88 minutes, things moved along briskly, and the goings-on never got too maudlin. It played much like the doofy longest-night ever movies of the 1980s (the kind in which something random would happen to Chevy Chase throughout a foreign city with a comely actress at his side).

So as much as I promote criticism, I suppose sometimes you just have to go and find out for yourself. I knew because of my deep spiritual admiration for Tina Fey that "Date Night" would have to be beyond awesome for me to not enjoy it. While reviews and critics aren't everything, you still have to be up on your movies. Know the actors, the trends, and what the blazes is supposed to be going on. Or you could just wing it. And see something awful.

*Extra note: the teenagers were out in full force at "Date Night." At a four o'clock showing. Very weird.