The Film
Steve Carell and Tina Fey are definitely part of the A-list. The proof is in the success of Date Night. Two of the funniest people on TV sounds like a recipe for box-office gold. Despite the $152 million and one of the largest all-star casts ever, the movie plays more like a bad rerun.
Carell and Fey star as Phil and Claire Foster, a Jersey couple who are stuck in a routine marriage and lame jobs. Inspired by the break-up of two friends (Kristen Wiig and Mark Ruffalo), the two plan a date night out in New York City. Naturally, breaking up their boring routine goes horribly wrong, and the two spend the night running to and from bad cops, bullets, and a shirtless Mark Wahlberg.
The premise is fine and so are some of the situations that the Fosters find themselves in. However, the script depends way too much on its two leads as well as the all-star cast, which includes James Franco, Mila Kunis, Taraji P. Henson, Common, William Fichtner, and Ray Liotta, to name a few. Usually that many big names is a recipe for disaster (see also: Valentine's Day). Sadly, Date Night is no different.
Much like a first date, Date Night is awkward, slow and at times, just downright embarrassing. The title makes this an obvious choice for the actual act of a date night. It does have the saving grace of two extremely likeable leads and a lot of famous faces; you could definitely do worse.
Want the bigger picture on the teaming of these two small-screen stars? Check out Joe Lozito's review of the theatrical release of Date Night.
The Picture
The movie is called Date NIGHT, so much of this 2.35:1 transfer is filled with dark scenes, that are often downright dingy. The black levels are sometimes great, but often crush a lot of the detail going on around the Big Apple backdrop. Also, while close-ups on Carell look perfect, someone thought it was a good idea to soften up the image on Fey's face. This is a good-looking woman, people; she does not need your help. That said, Wahlberg's abs have some serious definition and detail. Often, they also shine like the sun. That's Hollywood magic!
The Sound
Most comedies rely on the center-channel speaker to deliver the witty dialogue. Date Night doesn't really veer from the rom-com Blu-ray formula all that much, which is a real shame. The film features plenty of chances for the DTS-HD Master Audio track to do something special here. There are plenty of ambient sounds, such as screeching tires. Also, when the airbags deploy, there is a massive pop that should make your speakers jump. However, that's just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the action in this film. Instead of making it a real experience, the sound sticks mainly to the front speakers. It's not bad, but it's just really loud and sort of a missed opportunity for deeper immersion into the film.
The Extras
For this review, we checked out the Extended Version, which has about 14 extra minutes over the theatrical release. Both versions have the same special features, including almost 6 minutes' worth of wisely deleted scenes, less than 2 minutes of ad-libbing, gag reels, and other typical fare. Only director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) gets the true spotlight here, as the star of a 21-minute featurette and the lone participant of the release's commentary track. There are a few funny moments, but overall, it's disappointing for a movie with so many famous faces.
Also, this selection offers BD-Live, which should lead you to a few unique extras, including Live Lookup through IMDB, as well as a short with Carell and Fey. However, we tried two copies of the disc on two different players (an older Samsung player and a brand new Toshiba), and we could not find an option anywhere in the menus to access BD-Live. We checked both players' firmware, versions, BD-Live options and storage; still nothing. We even double- and tripled-checked other BD-Live titles on the same two players and were able to access BD-Live features on those, but still nothing on Date Night. According to Fox, the disc should prompt the viewer to do a download to update the player's BD-Live functionality. If you don't get that download, you won't even get the BD-Live option in the menu. Also an FYI: Instead of the typical, stand-alone BD-Live menu option, Fox has labeled this as "Live Extras" in the menu (assuming your player handles this better than ours did).
Our editor is going to double-check the title using a few of the players in our main testing labs. Expect an update here when this testing has been completed.
UPDATE: We did test the "Date Night" Blu-ray Disc on several different players and only found 2 (out of 7) players that were properly able to display the "Live Extras" features. You can see the results in our forum post: "BD-Live Problems on Date Night Blu-ray" - we are following up with Fox to see if they have any further comments on the issue.
Final Thoughts
Date Night comes off more like a first date: It's awkward, often embarrassing, and puts a ton of pressure on the two main people involved. Carell and Fey certainly have some type of comedic spark. It's just a shame that they didn't have material that would make this night worth remembering.
Product Details
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