The Night Before (2015) Review!!!

Synopsis – On Christmas eve, three lifelong friends spend the night in New York City looking for the Holy Grail of Christmas parties.

My Take – Their is no doubt that Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen are among the most talented actors in the field currently. While Joseph Gordon-Levitt keeps shifting gears in different genres, while again and again proving his masterclass of act, Seth Rogen who in recent times has been exploring his dramatic turn is back to playing the role we all love to watch him in – a grown up bearded man child. For the past decade, nobody has worn the mantle of “endearingly lost and confused” quite like Seth Rogen. His fuzzy visage is famously disarming, dialed somewhere between “I don’t want any problems, man” and “I actually don’t even know how I got here.” In modern cinema, Rogen is the reigning on-screen avatar for your inner overgrown man-child. He’s the Peter Pan of Stoner land. If you’ve enjoyed tumbling out the window with him before, it’s likely you’ll enjoy this film. If not, well, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also here, to save the day. Here, producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg reunite once again after working together with some memorable comedies (Superbad, This Is The End, Neighbors). And as I had expected this Jonathan Levine (50/50, Warm Bodies) directed film is a ridiculous holiday comedy with a heart-filling message about friendship. For a movie produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, a smorgasbord of vulgar humor and sex gags should come to no surprise, but unlike most of their comedies, this one comes with both a heart alongside its vulgarity. The story follows three long time best friends Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Isaac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) have got together every Christmas Eve to follow a ritual and party hard, initially started as a way to help Ethan get over the death of his parents about fourteen years ago. As they settle into their 30’s, mounting responsibilities–in the form of impending fatherhood for Isaac and his wife Betsy (Jillian Bell) and sudden NFL fame for Chris — shroud the prospect of future partying. This year, the boys decide to go all out for one final hurrah. However, with no family and no career, Ethan remains stuck in post-adolescence limbo and desperately clings to the significance of this worn out ritual. Ethan seems to sleep-walking through life, earning money from a degrading job and heartbroken following his recent split with long-term girlfriend Diana (Lizzy Caplan). Through a stroke of fate, he lands tickets to a legendary bash called The Nutcracker Ball, and leads the group on an adventure through New York City to reach the party.

But as you might expect; things turn out a little different from what they were expecting. One of the best aspects of the film, much like the previous Rogen/Gordon-Levitt collaboration 50/50 is the film’s fantastic ability to be silly, wild and completely chaotic, yet maintain a very emotional and deep connection of friendship, love and a believable bromance between three highly unlikely and different people. The film, while paying homage to some other Christmas films, seems like more than your old run of the mill illegal drug based comedy. While this may seem like the main focus of the film on the surface level, there are some underlying themes that can play into the true meaning of Christmas spirit. Isaac, Ethan, and Chris all struggle from some sort of relationship issues such as those stemming from finding new friends, significant others, parental attachment, and many more. The entire film is spent on these three not only re- discovering the important foundations of their friendship but also learning how to adapt them into their ever changing lives as independent “mature” adults. There is no doubting that Rogen, long-time friend and frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg, along with director Jonathan Levine, love and appreciate the holiday classic films, from Home Alone, to films like the original Die Hard, Big, It’s a Wonderful Life and The Grinch, these guys are film fanatics through and through, and with the inclusion of very subtle yet perfectly timed odes to these classics, the film pays a nice ode to the holiday traditional movie theme. Being a Seth Rogen movie, one shouldn’t be surprised that drugs drive the actions of our curly headed jester. Weed, among other psychotropic remedies, fuel our characters’ journey through the city and ironically is a medium for their self-discovery. Of course not everyone handles their drugs accordingly, which leads to them acting like idiots who can’t seem to shut up. Throw in alcohol and the stupidity gets amplified into wreckless chases, ridiculous conversation rants that drag on, and stumbling into unrealistic situations that you can find on most TV comedies. Like any good Rogen and company film, the film is filled with unexpected and sometimes utterly perfect cameos and roles for some amazing actors, from Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street), who plays Rogen‘s wife and drug supplier for the group, to Miley Cyrus who rings in a great cameo and fantastic little over-the top scene, to Mindy Kaling, James Franco, Randall Park (The Interview) and Tracy Morgan after his very public and publicized car accident. Of course, the film isn’t perfect. It has its slower moments, but those also happen to be when the narrative picks up and we aren’t as concerned about sustaining our laughter. Some plot devices show up merely for comedic effect and don’t contribute much to the movie, but that’s okay because it’s that kind of comedy. And although this one doesn’t get a pass to break all the rules, the filmmakers have crafted that type of movie. There’s a final realization cop out that’s forgiven with the satisfactory ending that follows, but the beauty of this movie is the chemistry of the core cast, which occurs through the empty script and heightened improvisation.

The camaraderie between Rogen, Gordon-Levitt and Mackie is really entertaining, and the various antics they get up to are stupid enough to put a smile on your face. Seth Rogen here gives what might be one of his best comedic performances! he had me dying in laughter every time he was on screen. He is definitely helped by the context he is thrown into, yet what he manages to do with that is comedic gold. Furthermore director Levine is someone that really understands comedy and whilst he does cheapen it in a couple of moments, for the majority he pulls off repeated laughs in all of the ways possible. Running gags, slapstick, character comedy, sound comedy, pop culture comedy, he does it all and he does it really well to the point that I was laughing so hard at moments I was exploding in joy. It has that type of rhythm and laughter where you get pumped and start cheering (and that is even more remarkable since I watched the movie totally alone and got on my feet multiple times). Using his very apparent Jewish roots and heritage for the basis of his humor and the foundation of many laughs throughout. From foreshadowing a very symbolic crucifixion, to some hilarious blasphemous religious gags within or outside of the church, hilarious bar scenarios, and ultimately to one of my favorite dinner texting scene ever in a film, Rogen always brings the laughs to a maximum. New to the Rogen crew this time around is Anthony Mackie (you may know him as Falcon in the Marvel universe), a very talented and versatile actor, who gathers as many laughs as Rogen and Gordon-Levitt within all of his scenes. Mackie keeps to his normal professional bravado, adding a little craziness and chaos to the mix. His comedy came more from well- delivered dialog and poking fun at the social media popularity. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the cute and cuddly of the bunch, brings many nostalgic moments of friendship that really hold the emotional core of the film. Levitt is kind of a hybrid of these two, taking the best of each character and delivering perhaps the most dynamic character of the trio. His main gimmick is his lack of emotional control that drives him to doing some petty stupid things. While these actors are funny alone, their greatest strength is the chemistry they have with each other. Lizzy Caplan, Mindy Kaling and Jillian Bell play their supporting parts well. Michael Shannon as Mr. Green, the boys’ drug dealer excels in his scene stealing moments. On the whole, ‘The Night Before’ is no Christmas classic, but for its target audience this film is a winner all the way. Its mindless yes, but its damn hilarious. But if you are a Seth Rogen fan, you are more likely to enjoy this more than others, even if its not the best of Rogen and Goldberg‘s works.