The Night Before

So if you’ve followed this blog in the past, you’ll know that I don’t traditionally review movies based on the holiday that is happening like most movie reviewer. I just watch movies as they come to me, I don’t review scary movies because it’s Halloween and I don’t usually review Christmas movies just because it’s Christmas. However, I don’t review Christmas movies when it’s not Christmas and I thought that I should finally throw up a review for an actual Christmas movie now that we’re getting into the Holiday spirit. And while I could have easily reviewed a classic Christmas film, I thought I’d look at a film that came out last year that I never actually got to go see during this time of the season, and that was The Night Before.

The Night Before follows the story of three friends, Ethan, Isaac, and Chris (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie, respectively). When Ethan was younger, he lost his parents in a car accident and didn’t really have a family to spend time with during Christmas. So his friends started a holiday tradition where they go out and party on Christmas Eve. And throughout the years of them partying, they always heard a legend of a great exclusive party called, The Nut Cracker Ball. Every year they try and try and yet they have not been able to find this party or obtain an invitation to it.

Now as exclusive as they make it out to be, by the end of the movie it’s like everyone they know is at this party so the exclusiveness is kind of lost by the end of it, but that’s not really the point.

Now in 2015, the three guys have gone their separate ways and have more responsibilities. Isaac is married and his wife (played by Jillian Bell) is pregnant. Chris has become a famous football player and is caught up in his career. And Ethan feels a little bit left out, especially this Christmas, not only because he recently broke up with his girlfriend, but the three guys have decided that this will be the last Christmas they will go out partying. But Ethan finds tickets to the Nut Cracker Ball and decides it’s the best way they can spend their last night together on Christmas. So the entire movie is Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Anthony Mackie going off, getting really drunk, taking all the drugs they have, all the while running into a whole cast of crazy characters like their drug dealer (played by Michael Shannon), a marijuana thief who idolizes all the Christmas villains like the Grinch and Hans Gruber (played by Ilana Glazer), Ethan’s ex-girlfriend (played by Lizzy Caplan) who might still have feelings for him, and her friend (played by Mindy Kaling, as well as a gallery of celebrity cameos.

The first thing to mention about this movie is that it is a movie that they had to have had fun with while making. This story is really all about the friendship between these three guys and it’s pretty obvious that these three had a lot of fun working together. I think Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon Levitt have done movies before, and Anthony Mackie seemed to be a fun addition to the team. On top of that, this movie has a lot more heart than I think I originally thought it would when I saw the trailers for it. The trailer made it seem like it was just going to be them all getting shit faced on Christmas and then trying to survive in normal Christmas get togethers, like the part where he is stoned in church.

Instead, the movie centers a lot on the friendship of the three main characters and the struggle that some people go through during the holidays and in normal life. The relationships in this movie are really strong, whether they’re between Ethan and Isaac, or Ethan and Chris, or Isaac and his wife, or Chris and his mom, etc. For a movie that Seth Rogen spends 80 percent of screen time tripping off of the drugs goodie bag his wife packs for him before he leaves, the movie has that classic Christmas feel of togetherness. There’s a surprisingly message of the importance of Christmas and being with those you love in this film that I wasn’t expecting.

Now there are some issues that go along with this film and the first thing I will mention is Seth Rogen.

Seth Rogen has made A LOT of his fame and fortune on comedies centered around him taking drugs and acting like a moron. This might take the cake out of all of those. He’s taking cocaine, he’s taking shrooms, he’s taking weed, he’s taking molly, and I get it, people on drugs are funny, people on drugs act silly. But they don’t act THAT crazy. And I wouldn’t have an issue with it, I’m not going to The Night Before for realism on the effects of drugs, but he plays jump rope with the line of what is funny and what is just stupid. An extreme example of this is Chris Hemsworth from Ghostbusters. Hemsworth in that film is dumb, it’s funny, until he’s almost too dumb, then its stupid. Rogen is not as bad in this film, but he does the same thing. He’s high and it’s funny, until he’s over the top high, like to a level nobody would ever be at, and then he’s stupid.

Then you’ve got Anthony Mackie. And I really like Mackie’s work. Not only is he a lot of fun and making a name for himself as Falcon, but he comes into this film and he’s a lot of fun. One thing to mention about Anthony Mackie in this film is that he is fulfilling a character arc. He’s the guy who is too caught up in his fame and fortune to realize the greatness of his friends. And they almost have him play it way too on the nose. I think it works for the entire film but you might have some points where Mackie does something that is just stupid and it’s not what a normal person would do, but it creates tension for the story.

And the same thing goes for Joseph Gordon Levitt as Ethan. Most of the time, all the characters in the film are a lot of fun and they’re really likeable. I just don’t know if their motivations for the things they do always coincide with the flow of the story and you start seeing divides and decisions being made not because these guys would actually do this if they were normal people, but because the plot requires them to.

Also (This isn’t so much of a complaint) but I’m pretty sure that this movie kind of confirms that Seth Rogen and James Franco have definitely fucked… I could be totally off. There’s a pretty funny exchange between the two of them and it’s really funny when you watch it… and then you remember their friendship and you just start to question things and wonder about those two. Again, not a complaint, just something funny about the film.

One of the great things about this film is that it has that Christmas spirit in it and it’s not really making a joke out of it. The Night Before doesn’t feel like a satire of Christmas films, it legitimately feels like it’s trying to make you laugh with the Seth Rogen stoner humor, but at the same time trying to get people to reflect on their friends and what Christmas can mean to one another. And yeah, it’s cheesy, it’s a little contrived and relies on the audience being engaged in the Christmas story being told, but hell, I was and I really enjoyed it. I think we live in a world where everyone is afraid to go with formula and don’t want to make a run of the mill Christmas movie, so we always need to up the ante, do something totally different, so much that it turns into a satire, or it’s so different that it loses that message, especially the Christmas message. But The Night Before is somehow able to do both and I had a really good time with this movie on a couple different levels.

I think if you’re looking for a Christmas movie that is different than the run of the mill classic Christmas film, The Night Before might actually be a good choice. I mean the movie is definitely Rate R so keep that in mind, don’t bring your kids to it, but if you’re an adult, especially one who is having a rough time during the holidays, you might actually really enjoy watching The Night Before with some friends and just getting a good laugh. Check it out!

But what do you think? What are some of the unique Christmas films I have yet to check out. I don’t know how many Christmas films I’m going to review over this next month, but I’m in the spirit now and I might throw in at least one or two more before Christmas. I’m looking for suggestions. Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I’ll leave you with this.This is kind of a fun interview the three guys who star in the movie did just talking about the movie. Enjoy!