At the Movies with Fatwayne

Phil and Claire Foster (Steve Carell and Tina Fey) are afraid that the spark has gone out of their marriage. Their life in New Jersey with their two kids is becoming routine and Phil wants no part of this. Their best friends are getting divorced due to boredom. Phil and Claire have a “date night” each week and even this is starting to become predictable.

To add a spark to their next date night,  Phil decides to take Claire into Manhattan for a special dinner at a trendy and hard to get into restaurant. Having failed to make reservations they are laughed at by the snooty maitre de and go to the bar. After quite a while a couple named Tripplehorn is paged a number of times as their table is ready. On the third pass, Phil jumps up and announces that he is Tripplehorn and thus gets a table.

This is where the Fosters’ troubles begin. While in the midst of a great time two strangers approach their table and insist that they accompany them to the alley behind the restaurant. Here they are questioned by the men seeking the return of a flash drive stolen from mobster boss Joe Miletto (Ray Liotta). Their explanation that they are not the Tripplehorns but that they had stolen their reservations fall on deaf ears. They manage to eventually escape and for the rest of the movie they are running for their lives.

There are some clever scenes but there are also some painful ones such as when Phil and Claire go to a strip club and perform a lewd dance for the benefit of the crooked District Attorney. It was so bad that it hurt to watch it. One the other hand, the obligatory chase scene offered a fresh take when the Fosters’ borrowed car crashes head on with a taxi. The vehicles become entangled and with the bad guys in hot pursuit, Phil drives away “pushing” the cab as they flee. This offered an interesting and new slant to the mostly mundane chase scenes we are exposed to constantly.

There are many plot twist and an ending that is hard to swallow but for the most part, it is a light and fluffy comedy offering. This is mainly thanks to the comedic talents of Carell and Fey. If you see it, you probably won’t be disappointed but you certainly won’t be overwhelmed either.

Rated -  PG13  -

Quotes from Date Night

Fatwayne’s Rating  -      -