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Perspiration Date

If you're going to use the term "a match made in comedy heaven", you couldn't ask for a more divine reason than the pairing of Steve Carell and Tina Fey. The reigning king and queen of NBC's gasping Thursday night line-up - he of "The Office", she of "30 Rock" - team up as a suburban husband and wife in Shawn Levy's mildly amusing "Date Night". The two are a delightful on-screen duo: Mr. Carell's awkward stammering and Ms. Fey's quick-witted neuroses blend well together. It's a shame then - but not entirely unexpected - that the two are saddled with such a run-of-the-mill action-comedy.

Like "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" meets "After Hours", the film's premise drops this "boring suburban couple" in the middle of a paper-thin blackmail plot in Manhattan. Of course, the plot only barely matters; the two stars are the film's raison d'etre. But the script, by "Shrek the Third" writer Josh Klausner, gives them very little to do. Even the ad libbed sequences only rise to a mild chuckle.

When Phil and Claire Foster feel their marriage falling into a predictable routine - and with their best friends filing for divorce - they decide to spice things up and go for a "date night" at a trendy Manhattan seafood restaurant. Unable to get a table, Phil steals the reservation of a no-show couple, the Tripplehorns. This one transgression - the film's most clever - sets up a mistaken identity plot that has Phil and Claire running from corrupt cops, good cops, and a mob boss played by Ray Liotta in paycheck-cashing mode.

It's not a bad setup, but once Phil and Claire are on the run, their characters stop being interesting. Suddenly, Claire drops a few IQ points and Phil is chastised as a bad planner. There are one or two memorable sequences, in particular a very unique car chase and a wildly awkward striptease. But otherwise the a-to-b-to-c plot doesn't hold interest, even at 88 minutes. Even Mark Wahlberg somehow manages to be overused as a shirtless one-joke character (being shirtless is the one joke).

It might have been more interesting if the two characters shined through somehow. The film gives a glimpse of the missed potential during the opening setup sequences. Mr. Carell and Ms. Fey make such an endearing couple that it could have been enough just to watch them be a "boring suburban couple from New Jersey".

Both stars can easily make the transition from small to big screen, but they need better material. Mr. Carell found a good vehicle in "Get Smart" (the less said about his "Evan Almighty" the better), but Ms. Fey's "Baby Mama" was, like "Date Night", quickly forgettable. In order for these two to find a truly funny script, Ms. Fey might need to write it herself. But that would require time off from "30 Rock". And there'd be nothing funny about that.