For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
The
Breakdown - Date Night
The Impression:
A comedy starring Steve Carrell and Tina Fey could equal
funny. A comedy directed by Shawn Levy could equal
disastrously trite.
The Reality:
It's hard for me to say what I actually thought of this film
as I viewed less than 24 hours after the monstrosity that
is The Greatest. I chuckled, and giggled and
generally enjoyed the endearing star power of Fey and
Carrell, and came out with out even a slight bit of
big-budget comedic hatred lingering about. But I wonder: if
this film was seen prior to The Greatest or after any
other film of cinematic worth, would I find myself tearing
it apart? Yes, Carrell is a natural charmer, a truly sincere
comic actor who gives the character of a tax-accountant
husband and father trying to impress his long-time wife a
real sense of emotion that I completely fell for. And yes,
Tina Fey was sharp and funny and strangely attractive. But
in the long run, this film doesn't stretch the viewer a
terrible amount, falling back on a pretty basic set of
slapstick plot tropes that I could've done without.
Not a bad movie, not a great movie, just a completely
inoffensive bit of comedic fluff.
The Lesson:
Seeing bad movies will make other bad movies seem great.
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and
the KEXP blog. He also has his own
Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.
If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his
writings here at Side One: Track One then please do
so
here.
- Noah Sanders
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