adminCinema: Rainbow town
Running time: 86 minutes
Type of film: Cops and Robbers Farce
Age restriction: Adults only
Reviewed by Prof Joel White
Date Night is a perfect prototype of a film whose director and producer are one and the same person.
If he is willing to put up the money which is what a producer does there will be nobody in his vicinity to caution him about what he is doing. And this is exactly the problem with the film Date Night. It simply didn’t know when to say enough. On the other hand, for the one in a million viewer who happens to come from the Big Apple, which I do, and which shows New York in all its glory, I forgive the makers of this film for all their sins.
The state right next to New York City is New Jersey. New Yorkers have made fun of the residents of New Jersey for so long that the poor Jerseyites have come to believe all the awful things said about them.
And this film is about a married couple who leave their two small kids at home in New Jersey with a babysitter and venture into the Bib City for an evening of excitement.
Very soon they realise they have bitten off far more than they bargained for.
It starts when they attempt to gain entrance into a fancy restaurant without a reservation. Failing admittance, they learn of a reservation, which has not been honoured.
Assuming this false name the Triplehorns they become the targets of a New York crime syndicate which has reason to wish the Triplehorns dead.
Any reasonable or thinning member of the movie audience would, at this point, accept that all logic must be abandoned.
Virtually at every turn everyone involved does exactly the opposite of what a sensible person would do. To make such a film in the very heart of New York’s crowds and traffic, it is essential to get the co-operation of the Police Depot.
How I ask myself do they manage this, when, at every turn the police are shown to be corrupt at best, idiots at worst.
Mark Wahlberg, now moving into his 40s, shows off a body throughout the film he is never clothed which has taken many weeks in the gym, and which is the cause of a great deal of eyebrow raising. Modesty in all the ways it can be displayed is given very short shrift in this film. This film is definitely for adults only.
Take your sense of humour along if you go to see it. This film takes the Mickey out of everybody, especially members of the audience.
Online Reporter