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Saturday, December 5, 2015

Thoughts on The Night Before

I saw The Night Before a few weeks ago, a Christmas comedy directed by Jonathan Levine and written by Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter, Levine, and Ariel Shaffir. It starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie as friends who want to have one last fun night of Christmas Eve (following 14 years of traditional partying on the Eve), trying to get to a secret party via mysterious instructions, before they settle into their adult life changes. I thought it was decent, and the guys had really good chemistry together, which made it better to watch their scenes together than their individual ones.

It was good at doing some sophomoric comedy (puke scene, drug trips) without getting too crass. The characters had depth to them, and I liked that they were well-rounded and dealing with maturing in their 30s while being afraid to leave behind their tradition for new life changes (fame, first child, breakup). The movie had a really good supporting cast: Lizzy Caplan, Mindy Kaling, Jillian Bell, Michael Shannon, and Ilana Glazer. I felt like the movie felt too wrapped up at times, like it missing some kind of element that would make it memorable, but it was decent to watch for its talented cast and good writing, and I did laugh out loud a few times.

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