The Night Before (2015) (English Language)

Review

101min

Genre:      Comedy

Director:   Jonathan Levine

Cast:        Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie…more

Writer:     Jonathan Levine, Evan Goldberg , Kyle Hunter … and more

-Synopsis-

As obligations mount up and “maturity” beckons, three thirtysomething New York friends bring a decade old Christmas partying tradition to an end with a drug & sex-fuelled quest to find the blowout party to end all parties in this Seth Rogen version of ‘A Christmas Carol’.

By now, most cinemagoers should know what to expect from a Seth Rogen vehicle, lewd comedy with plenty of sexual references and dick jokes, pop-culture references, cringeworthy awkward situations, and drugs, lots and lots of drugs.

So if you’re a fan of the more low-brow elements of Rogen-Goldberg comedy, and in this case director Jonathan Levine too, then you’ll enjoy all the madness involved around this sometimes surprisingly touching tale of evolving but eternal friendship, and the “spirit” of Christmas.

But if you’re not a fan, or are easily shocked and offended, then there’s probably no need to read on and you should avoid ‘The Night Before’ like the plague.

Seth Rogen and his ’50/50′ co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt star alongside Anthony Mackie as three friends who are being pulled apart by careers and family lives, and who are brought closer together by drug-induced Christmas “miracles”, as well as several other theme-appropriate Dickensian constructs like psychedelic mushroom visions of Christmases past.

‘The Night Before’ is every inch the unconventional Christmas comedy, complete with touching moments in a morality tale with a happy ending, but it’s also clearly an outrageous and silly irreverent comedy with a fully crammed narrative that’s all over the place.

Let’s be honest here, ‘The Night Before’ is no comedy classic, it’s not even one of the better Rogen-Goldberg collaborations. But considering their controversial and hugely disappointing previous collaboration in ‘The Interview’, this is certainly not the worst and has more than enough genuine hard belly-laugh humour to be better than most Christmas comedies you’re likely to see anytime soon.

The Bottom Line…

Littered with irreverent lewd comedy and drug references, ‘The Night Before’ is unapologetic low-brow Christmas comedy that won’t be to everyone’s taste, but with an outrageous & creative capturing of Dickensian literature and some legit side-splitting humour, it’s surprisingly enjoyable escapism and a good way to spend a couple of mindless holiday hours.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

The Interview (2014)

James Franco and Seth Rogen star as presenter and producer of a typically trashy celebrity tabloid show who are invited to North Korea for an interview with fan of the show and supreme leader Kim Jong-Un, only to be recruited by the CIA to assassinate the brutal dictator in an irreverent black comedy from the makers of ‘This is the End’ and ‘Pineapple Express’.

Directed by  Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen and starring James Franco, Seth Rogen and  Kim Jong-Un among others.

Comments

comments

Comments are closed.