Image: www.thenightbeforemovie.com.au
In The Night Before, an evening’s worth of outrageous happenings masks fears about embracing maturity and champions festive feelings of acceptance and camaraderie. Though they balance debauchery with emotion, writer/director Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies) and his co-scribes Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir and Evan Goldberg (The Interview) play in typical party and holiday film territory — and the feature that eventuates also earns the same description.
The crude jokes and behaviour, the seasonal setting and sentiment: they’ve both furnished many a similar effort. And yet, in following three pals farewelling their yuletide tradition in favour of adulthood, the combination still elicits laughs and warmth.
Since a tragedy left Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Walk) alone at what is meant to be the happiest time of the year, he has spent Christmas Eve with his high school buddies Chris (Anthony Mackie, Love the Coopers) and Isaac (Seth Rogen, Steve Jobs). Their annual celebration involves drinking, drugs and venturing through New York’s toy stores, karaoke joints and bars, as well as trying to gain access to an exclusive shindig. Alas, with Isaac’s wife Betsy (Jillian Bell, TV’s Workaholics) about to give birth to their first child, the current round of shenanigans has been deemed their last. Cue one final hurrah, complicated by Ethan’s struggles with his recent breakup with ex-girlfriend Diana (Lizzy Caplan, Masters of Sex), professional footballer Chris’ attempts to impress his team quarterback, and Isaac’s feverish consumption of illicit substances.
Enlivening a delayed coming-of-age narrative with some boisterous and jovial hijinks is The Night Before‘s basic conceit, and one that it primarily explores through the expected parade of profanity-laced, pop culture-referencing gags and sketches. So far, so breezily by-the-book. But, thankfully, beneath the usual irreverent revelry lingers a slight but effective contemplation of long-term friendship, which is where the film fares best. As the central trio flit around the city, fall into ridiculous situations and cross paths with a host of eccentric characters (including Broad City‘s Ilana Glazer, The Mindy Project‘s Mindy Kaling, and 99 Homes‘ Michael Shannon as a scene-stealing drug dealer), they not only uncover revelations about acting their age, but about their lengthy bond. Familiar as their discoveries may be, they’re deployed with ample heart.
Indeed, while antics-fuelled endeavours often seem to indicate otherwise, features predicated upon palling around can rise or fall on the earnestness of their performances. Intermittent amusement might spring from the script and from the actors’ delivery, with both serviceable here, but anything beyond easy guffaws requires an authentic sense of camaraderie. In The Night Before, the three leads prove spirited from start to finish, as well suited to guiding audiences a raucous one-night ride as fleshing out the complexities of their connection. Individually, Gordon-Levitt, Mackie and Rogen all play to their likeable strengths; together, their rapport shines brightest.
Even as their characters navigate standard plot points and just-as-standard outlandish scenarios, their interplay feels genuine — and even tinged with sweetness, too. That’s the combination the movie mines again and again: always routine, but sometimes funny and often moving. That The Night Before becomes a manic, modestly enjoyable melange as a result is hardly surprising, nor is its regular lashings of gloss and pace. In fact, wavering between entertaining and average, as befitting the movie’s mix of party-inspired epiphanies and unruly Christmas cheer, is its inevitable fate.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
The Night Before
Director: Jonathan Levine
USA, 2015, 101 mins
Release date: December 3
Distributor: Sony
Rating: MA
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