THE NIGHT BEFORE

REVIEWS NO-ONE ASKED FOR
by Ashton Brown

THE NIGHT BEFORE
dir Jonathan Levine

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE...every other comedy ever made.

Guys! Have you been holding out, waiting for a film where Seth Rogen plays a baffonish Jewish fellow who loves taking drugs?! A film where Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a love struck fellow (and despite being ten thousand percent charismatic and handsome) is unlucky in love?! Well wait no longer - the Christmas themed, The Night Before has arrived, providing you with nothing new, fresh or overly hilarious. It's enjoyable, sure, but is sub par given the creatives involved and the fact it's 2016 (or even late 2015).

Ethan (Gordon-Levitt) is sad and understandably so - his parents died on Christmas Eve. So every year at this time he get's together with his two best pals, Isaac (Rogen) and professional, drug abusing athlete, Chris Roberts (Anthony Mackie). It's become a tradition to get messed up and seek out this super secret party that they heard about many years ago but never managed to get an invite for. These three early 30s gentlemen learn to face reality as they deal with family, babies and reality. The formula is wondrously...well...formulaic...and I didn't expect any different from a Christmas film. I have no problem with Christmas films. I'm a big fan of Love Actually. I watch it every year or so with a santa hat over the corner of the TV, having a shot of whiskey whenever someone wears it. I love that guy from The Walking Dead's unhealthy and embarrassing obsession. I love Professor Snape (RIP) and his weird affection for a woman much younger than him. I love how tragic Christmas is! The problem with The Night Before is that it DOES have heart. It DOES have jokes. But it is so wrapped up in mediocre Christmas and romantic comedy tropes that the script never really blossoms into something new and the actors are pretty much performing outtakes of every other film they have ever been in.

It's never an unenjoyable journey by any means. We always love seeing Rogen getting high on ridiculous amounts of drugs. We love seeing Gordon-Levitt being charming and tragic. We love the always exceptional Mindy Kaling being the always exceptional Mindy Kaling - and Christ knows we love Home Alone references. It's just disappointing that this is all that is happening. When the script finally allows it's actors to discover a real moment of true vulnerability or suggests that the moral is going to be something more than a really poor and last minute feeling nod to The Night Before Christmas - it too quickly rips the rug out from under the audiences feet and returns to the more simplistic ease of stupidity and predictability. I'm not suggesting I was expecting otherwise - but I did expect more.

The movies saving grace, for me, is the "ghost" that provides the premonitions to the leads. The always ridiculously amazing Michael Shannon, portrays a very restrained and hilarious drug dealer whose magical pot drives the visions that are clear references to the source material.

So did I enjoy it? Well I didn't hate it. But I watched it because of how much I like Rogen & Gorden-Levitt and how although I don't expect 50/50 from them every time (amazing film - if you haven't seen it - watch it) I don't want to feel as though they are just cashing cheques. I don't want to say that this is the Your Highness of Christmas films - because fuck, it's not THAT bad. But it was disappointing. I shouldn't have to lower my expectations further when they weren't that high to begin with. 

2 out of 5. 

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