For a nice change...a comedy movie that is actually funny!

I'm always a bit nervous about comedy movies. They seem to be filled with jokes that I am just too old or really just too much of a girl to find funny in any way and in fact make me want to claw out my own eyeballs so it will stop. So fortunately, Date Night isn't one of those movies at all. It's really really funny.

The plot is quite silly really, a suburban couple who want to try out a different 'date night' experience when they realise they always do the same thing and that has led some of their friends down the divorce path. They try to get into a fancy restaurant and take someone else's reservation, leading to a mistaken identity run-in with some dodgy characters, then an ensuing chase/attempt to sort out the problem with all sorts of hilarious high-jinks which is of course resolved satisfactorily by the end.


The standout scenes:

• the scene in the restaurant when they act all edgy
• two cars get their front bumpers stuck together and drive all over the place. It sounds really stupid but it's really funny
• the scene where they have to dance at the gangsters club - hilarious! I was crying with laughter

What makes this movie really funny is Tina Fey and Steve Carrell as the suburban couple, they do an excellent job of playing it quite straight while being side-splittingly hilarious. They are both great actors so their performances are very subtle, which really lifts the film from being one of the usual hollywood comedies. It also has a number of slow relationship moments that mix up the frenetic pace of the rest of the film to good effect.

Rating: 4 stars
When: 17 April 2010
Where: Hoyts Broadway