MPAA Rated: R for drug use and
language throughout, some strong sexual content and graphic nudity
Running Time: 101 min.
Cast: Seth
Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anthony Mackie, Jillian Bell, Lizzy Caplan,
Mindy Kaling, Michael Shannon, Lorraine Toussaint, Helene York, Ilana
Glazer, Nathan Fielder Small role: James Franco, Tracy Morgan, Miley
Cyrus, Jason Jones, Randall Park Director: Jonathan Levine
Screenplay: Jonathan Levine, Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Evan Goldberg Review published November 21, 2015
Isaac (Rogen,
Steve Jobs), Ethan (Gordon-Levitt,
The Walk), and Chris (Mackie,Love the Coopers)are
friends since childhood who've made it a point, after Ethan's parents
are killed by a drunk driver, to get together every Christmas Eve
in order to party like there's no tomorrow. (Yes, they're going
to commemorate someone else's drunken revelry that led to a tragedy
that left one of them becoming an orphan by engaging in it
themselves.) Now into their thirties and ready to get serious
about family and career, they've decided that this year's night of
debauchery will be their last. Knowing they should go out with a
bang, Ethan manages to steal tickets to the biggest and most exclusive
party in New York City. However, there are several factors that
threaten to make the night not last, including Ethan's inability to
get over his ex (Caplan,The Interview),
dad-to-be Isaac's overconsumption of the box of various drugs his
nine-months-pregnant wife (Bell,
Goosebumps)has given him, and burgeoning football
star Chris wanting to desperately to score points with the captains on
his team by securing a stash of weed they've asked him to
bring to the bash.
The Night Before operates on four main principles for nearly
all of its comedy:
1. Drugs, whether imbibed or merely referenced,
are always funny.
Having the men encounter a Dickensian ghost of
past, present, and future isn't that amusing, but if he's also their
drug supplier from their time of youth, it's a gas! Snorting
copious amounts of coke and then getting a nosebleed into a woman's
drink right before she imbibes is funny because, well, cokeheads get
nosebleeds -- heehee! (OK, that she thought it was a Cran-tini is
vaguely amusing, I'll admit). Hallucinating horrific faces onto people
would be nightmarish under most circumstances, but because it's part of
a psychedelic trip, it's just the stuff worthy of infinite giggles!
2. Referencing pop culture from one's childhood
is always funny.
Having the three friends perform karaoke isn't
funny, but if it's a novelty rap like "Christmas in Hollis" by Run DMC,
it's funny! Visiting Chris's house to encounter his embarrassingly
doting mother isn't particularly amusing, but if they go there in order
to play 'Goldeneye' on the Nintendo 64, it's nudge-your-bro-next-to-you
hilarious! Jumping off of a building isn't funny, but drop a
reference to the fact that it's the way that Hans Gruber in Die Hard would have done it, and you'll
have fits of laughter! Seeing someone booby-trap a sidewalk with toys
isn't funny on it's own, but if the person who falls on his butt cries
out that he's been, "Home Alone-d", you'll laugh because it's a
reference you understand. (Home Alone
is referenced a few times in the film, in fact).
3. Anything related to sex and bathroom
functions is always funny. (Also, swear words).
Having Ethan get beat up by two guys in Santa
suits isn't funny, so let's have him encounter them in the middle of
public urination, while discussing whether or not they should also
defecate in their pants -- now it's poop-your-pants funny! Freaking out
at a packed cathedral while attending Midnight Mass wouldn't be very
amusing, but vomiting in the middle of the aisle makes it comedy bliss!
Finding out you have accidentally mixed up your phone with a female
friend's isn't funny, but if the man starts to receive sexts and
explicit junk shots that make a straight, married guy actually consider
a sexual rendezvous with the sender, it's suddenly a comedy goldmine!
4. Celebrity cameos and name-dropping
celebrities are always funny.
If you're going to name-drop Miley Cyrus (Bolt),
make sure she's in the film, and that she also name-drops Hannah Montana
while she's talking, because showing or naming people you recognize that
you didn't know or expect in the movie is hilarious! (Not
surprising she'd appear, since she's signed to RCA records, which is
owned by Sony, who made the film). That goes for James Franco (True
Story), who is on screen with Seth Rogen for the umpteenth
time, playing himself -- er, I mean a sexually deviant version of
himself, again, for the umpteenth time! And hey, Tracy Morgan (Top
Five) is Santa Claus in a scene that's not funny unless you
laugh because you know who Tracy Morgan is, and you think it's funny
that he's dressed as Santa Claus!
The real problem with all of the above is that
they all operate on the notion that being truly smart, witty or clever
is too difficult. The people that are watching this film are totally
high or drunk -- no need to kill their buzz with making them think about
subtle ironies or incisive satire. Just keep pressing buttons of vulgarity and pop
culture references to stimulate the happy/silly part of the brain that laughs at
anything where we remember our inner man-children, and we'll just laugh
and laugh and laugh. Alas, the film grates early and often, trying to be
loud enough and crass enough to cover over the fact that, if volume and
the lewdness-factor were at all toned down, we'd discover that The Night
Before is nearly vacant of a single thoughtful or interesting idea
that merits two minutes of our attention, much less two hours.
The Night Before is a mess of a movie,
feeling like a jumble of comedy sketch ideas that don't have a central
story to solidify, laying out there and flailing blindly about and
hoping that in the continuous piling on of zaniness, that the manic
slapstick will cause laughter to become contagious in the audience.
We expect more from director Jonathan Levine (Warm
Bodies, The Wackness), who directed Seth Rogen and Joseph
Gordon-Levitt to better success with their previous collaboration,
50/50, and while attempts at sentimentality are here, they feel
disingenuous when squeezed in between scene after scene of hard-R rated
raunchiness for most of the run time.
Not that the film is complete travesty.
Michael Shannon (99 Homes) gets a
funny bit part as the lackadaisically droll but still earnestly
interested drug dealer, making you wish he'd played a bigger role
overall. While everyone else's performance is cranked to the max,
he achieves most of his laughs by keeping the tone completely subdued by
contrast, and it works quite well. The film does have a very appealing cast, with the
bro-mantic leads seeming like they'd work well together if there were
anything remotely funny for them to riff on in between the forced chaos.
It's should be a slam dunk, but the writing team is just too lazy to
bother with making the effort. While I don't find the film to be laugh-out-loud funny, there are still several
moments in which the comedy seems like it is about to turn a corner and
become something more than just a comedy for people giddy because
they're drinking and smoking bowls right along with the men on the
screen.
Forget this becoming a perennial favorite
holiday classic. The Night
Before is like opening a
present, peering in the box, and finding nothing inside. Oh
wait, that's not funny. Hmm -- it's like finding a pile of poop
inside! Oh, no -- much funnier, that poop is only in there
because Seth Rogen took shrooms and couldn't control his bowels, and
your present was the only receptacle he could find! Wait, wait,
wait! And when the lid of the box is opened, an electronic
version of Sisqo's "Thong Song" plays from a little speaker within!
Dude, I'm so funny! I could totally write a major Hollywood movie! Ho,
ho, ho! Ooh, a Christmas reference! Get me a typewriter, stat!
If you found that last paragraph hilarious for anything other than
the irony, this is the film for you. If not,
drinking/smoking/snorting/shooting up along with the characters on
the screen may be a requirement.
