Last Updated:8:13 PM EST 4/14/10 Section: Lifestyles

Media Credit: Twentieth Century Fox Tina Fey and Steve Carell face some unexpected events on their dinner date.

Have you ever gone to a busy restaurant without a reservation and decided to steal someone's reservations when they did not show? Steve Carell and the very attractive Tina Fey did this one night. They learned their lesson.

Date Night is about a married couple that has been together probably about 10 years. Phil Foster (Carell) and Claire Foster (Fey) come home from work every night, play with their kids, eat dinner and go straight to bed. After seeing this pattern continue for a few weeks and watching a couple close to them get divorced, they both realize they are in a boring marriage.

One Friday night Phil decides to take his wife out to an expensive restaurant in Manhattan instead of the steakhouse they've gone to for years. Phil thinks they don't need reservations.

After getting to the crowded restaurant that has loud music, snotty hosts and people much younger than them, Claire decides they should leave. Before Phil gives in, he notices the host searching for a party of two. Phil says they are the couple the host is looking for.

The couple enjoys a nice meal until two intimidating men ask them to leave. Phil and Claire think the two men are the managers that have learned that the couple stole someone's reservations.

There is a confrontation in the alley of the restaurant in what I believe is one of the funniest scenes of the movie. The two mysterious men threaten the misidentified couple. This leads to a few ridiculous fight scenes that are worth a good laugh.

Eventually the audience is introduced to Mark Wahlberg, James Franco and Mila Kunis. These three talented actors provide the extra boost that this movie needs when the viewers might start to get tired of the plot.

This movie starts out somewhat boring and dull. I guess it has to do this to show how lame Phil and Claire's marriage is. As the story progresses and gets more interesting, the audience gets sucked back in.

Carell and Fay have great chemistry on the big screen. Some of their jokes might not make you laugh, but during other scenes I wasn't able to stop. Carell's character in a way reminds me of Michael Scott (The Office) with his awkwardness and sense of humor. I like that character so much that I was fine with this. Others might disagree.

The biggest wish I had was that this movie was rated R so that the stars could tell funnier, inappropriate jokes with more four-letter words. I especially think that if James Franco character, "Taste," could swear more, it would fit into his personality better.

Some of the scenes with the bad guys seem a little ridiculous. After reviewing Bounty Hunter last edition, I thought that ridiculous chases would always bother me. I was wrong.

Unlike The Bounty Hunter, Date Night is able to have these scenes, make them a little more realistic and with a lot more humor.

This movie was not as funny as some of my other comedy favorites such as Old School or more recently Pineapple Express and I Love You, Man, but the terrific chemistry of Steve Carell and Tina Fey keeps the audience laughing and ensures that each person makes the best of their own date night.

ejm03514@sjfc.edu

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