Date Night

Date Night Information

Date Night is a 2010 action comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey. It was released in the United States on April 9, 2010. For a time it was marketed as Crazy Night in Europe but later the title was changed back to the original Date Night.

Plot

Phil and Claire Foster (Steve Carell and Tina Fey) are a married couple from New Jersey with two children and whose domestic life has become boring and routine. Phil is a tax lawyer while Claire is a realtor. They are motivated to reignite their romance after learning that their best friends, Brad and Haley (Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Wiig), are planning to divorce to escape the married-life routine and to have more excitement in their lives.

To avoid the routine that had become their weekly "date night", Phil decides that he will take Claire to a trendy Manhattan restaurant called "Claw", but they cannot get a table. Phil steals a reservation from a no-show couple, the Tripplehorns, despite Claire's misgivings. While eating they are approached by two men, Collins (Common) and Armstrong (Jimmi Simpson), who question them about a flash drive they believe Phil and Claire stole from mobster Joe Miletto (Ray Liotta). Phil and Claire try to explain that they are not the Tripplehorns, but the men threaten them at gunpoint. Not seeing any other way out, Phil tells them the flash drive is in a boathouse in Central Park.

At the boathouse, Claire pretends to search; while Collins and Armstrong's backs are turned, Phil hits them with an oar and escapes with Claire on a boat, Collins and Armstrong shooting at them. At a police station, Phil and Claire talk with Detective Arroyo (Taraji P. Henson), but discover Collins and Armstrong are also detectives, presumably on Miletto's payroll. Realizing they cannot trust the police, they decide to find the real Tripplehorns. They return to the restaurant and find the Tripplehorns' phone number.

Claire remembers a former client, Holbrooke Grant (Mark Wahlberg), is a security expert and James Bond-like action hero. He seems to never wear shirts and is sleeping with a gorgeous Israeli woman (who is relieved she and Grant won't have to have sex with the old, uninspiring-looking Fosters). At his apartment, Grant traces the Tripplehorns' cell phone signal to an apartment owned by a Tom Felton. Collins and Armstrong arrive, but Phil and Claire escape in Grant's Audi R8.

They arrive at Felton's apartment and break in. They question Felton, nicknamed "Taste" (James Franco), and his wife "Whippit" (Mila Kunis) about the flash drive and Joe Miletto. It turns out that Taste and Whippit did go to the restaurant but left as soon as they spotted Collins and Armstrong outside. Realizing they are still in danger, Taste gives the flash drive to Phil and flees with Whippit. When Phil and Claire get back in the Audi, Armstrong and Collins chase and shoot at them. Phil and Claire crash the Audi head-on into a Ford Crown Victoria taxicab, resulting in their Audi and the cab being attached at the bumpers. Both windshields are shot out, so Phil and the cab driver (J. B. Smoove) agree to drive off under the Audi's power to get away. Phil climbs into the cab to help control it (in reverse) while Claire drives the Audi, Collins and Armstrong still pursuing along with other NYPD vehicles. Phil checks the flash drive on the cab driver's Amazon Kindle and finds pictures of district attorney Frank Crenshaw (William Fichtner) with prostitutes (early in the film, a press conference shows Crenshaw highlighting his integrity platform). After evading Collins and Armstrong, they are eventually hit, and are separated by, an SUV. Phil realizes that the cab's brakes have failed so the cab driver (now passenger) jumps free and Phil rides the car into the river; Phil swims away and later says the flash drive stayed in the river.

On a subway train, Phil learns that Felton had obtained the flash drive to blackmail Crenshaw on behalf of Miletto. They return to Grant's apartment, and Grant reluctantly agrees to help them again. Phil and Claire go to an illegal strip club that Crenshaw frequents, with Claire under the guise of a new prostitute and Phil as her pimp. After doing a pole dance for Crenshaw, they confront him and tell him they are the Tripplehorns. Collins and Armstrong come in and hold them at gunpoint, taking them up to the roof with Crenshaw. Miletto arrives with henchmen and it is revealed that Crenshaw has been paid by Miletto to keep him out of jail. When Phil mentions the photos, a fight escalates between the mobsters and Crenshaw, Collins and Armstrong. Phil asks Claire to count to three, her typical method of calming their children. When she does, a helicopter appears and Arroyo and the SWAT team come onto the roof to arrest Miletto, Crenshaw, and everyone else. It is revealed that Phil was wearing a wire courtesy of Grant, who had informed Arroyo of the situation.

Afterwards, Phil and Claire have breakfast at a diner, where Phil says he would marry Claire and have their kids all over again. When they return home, they kiss passionately on the front lawn, first time they kiss in the whole movie.

Cast

Steve Carell as Phil Foster

Tina Fey as Claire Foster
Mark Wahlberg as Holbrooke Grant
Taraji P. Henson as Detective Arroyo
William Fichtner as District Attorney Frank Crenshaw

Ray Liotta as Joe Miletto (uncredited)

James Franco as Chase "Taste" Tripplehorn/Tom Felton
Mila Kunis as "Whippit" Tripplehorn/Felton
Mark Ruffalo as Brad Sullivan
Kristen Wiig as Haley Sullivan
Common as Detective Collins
Jimmi Simpson as Detective Armstrong
Bill Burr as Detective Walsh
Leighton Meester as Katy
Gal Gadot as Natanya
Olivia Munn as the Hostess
J. B. Smoove as Cab Driver
Michelle Galdenzi as Claw Waitress
will.i.am as Himself

Production

Filming began in mid-April 2009.

Soundtrack

Confirmed songs for the soundtrack are listed below:

"Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones
"Burn It to the Ground" by Nickelback
"Love Gun" by Cee-Lo Green featuring Lauren Bennett
"Heartbreak Warfare" by John Mayer
"Cobrastyle" by Teddybears featuring Mad Cobra
"Why Me" by Margie Balter
"Date Night Blues" by The Rave-Ups
"French Connection" by Solar Budd
"I'll Never Dream" by Kaskade
"Moving On" by Morgan Page
"Fresh Groove" by Muddy Funksters
"I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You" by Leon Haywood
"Sex Slave Ship" by Flying Lotus
"God Created Woman" by A. B. O'Neill
"Elephant" by Spiral System
"Production" by Lemonworks
"Something Bigger, Something Better" by Amanda Blank
"Stone" by Terry Lynn
"(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" by Jackie Wilson

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed to positive reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 68% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 188 reviews, with an average score of 6.2/10. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, assigned the film a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 37 reviews from mainstream critics. Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars and two thumbs up saying "If you don't start out liking the Fosters and hoping they have a really nice date night, not much else is going to work." Jim Vejvoda of IGN gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars saying "Date Night suggests a lot of comedic possibilities (Wahlberg's character being just one of them, and the Fosters' escape from the police station being another example) but it never quite capitalizes on all of these set-ups. Despite these shortcomings, the film still manages to be a lot of fun".

Box office

On its opening weekend, 20th Century Fox reported that Date Night grossed $27.1 million, about $200,000 more than Warner Bros. reported for Clash of the Titans. In a recount, Clash of the Titans retained the #1 spot for a second-straight weekend with $26.6 million. Date Night debuted at #2 with $25.2 million, nearly $2 million less than Fox had reported a day earlier. The film has gone on to gross $98,711,404 in the United States and Canada and $53,557,629 in other countries totaling a worldwide gross of $152,269,033.

Awards and nominations

The film won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Comedy and Fey won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Actress: Comedy.

Home media

Date Night was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 10, 2010. The DVD includes both theatrical (88 minutes) and extended (101 minutes) versions of the film, alternate scenes, two featurettes, public service announcements, and a gag reel. The Blu-ray contained a digital copy while Target had an exclusive combo pack that contained the Blu-ray, a DVD copy, and a digital copy. The Target exclusive also had a different cover.