​The Night Before: A Review

By Joshua Chitty

The Night Before is about a drug filled night of raunchy humor and wacky shenanigans. That reductive comment is almost the same as saying Titanic was simply about a boat that sank. Like most good stories (and icebergs), what you see on the surface is only part of the story. The true heart of the movie is laying underneath.

The story follows Ethan (JGL), Isaac (Rogen), and Chris (Mackie) on their last time together celebrating their old Christmas eve tradition of getting blasted and partying around New York. For more than a decade these best friends carried on this annual event but life eventually crept up on them and a tough decision had to be made. They had to let go of their young adult lives and move on to fulfill their new commitments.

Isaac is going to be a first time father very soon. His wife sets his evening up by gifting him what can only be described as a ‘box of drugs’ for being so supportive during the pregnancy. He gets one more chance to live it up before hanging up the wild nights for good.

Chris has become a star athlete in town and a social media icon. Fame follows him everywhere and it is just becoming too difficult to maintain the tradition.

Ethan is the center piece of the group. A personal event in his life is what started this annual tradition and he seems to be the only one that might be having a hard time letting go.

One of the interesting things about this movie is the fact that each character is given a chance to breathe life into their own story arcs. While at first it might seem like Ethan is the focus of the story we quickly learn that Isaac and Chris are dealing with their own personal crises. Ca Isaac handle being a father? Can Chris ever gain the respect of his team? The events of the night lead to all them having time to search within themselves to look for the answers they need. Usually it comes by the way of a little help from their friendly neighborhood drug dealer, Mr. Green(Shannon).

Mr. Green is not seen much, but his impact is very deep. Michael Shannon puts in a tremendous performance as a type of guide that helps the main characters on their personal journeys. In lesser hands this role could have been laughably bad, but Shannon brings the character to life in a way that simply can’t be ignored.

During the course of the night the three guys venture out into the world to continue their annual festivities. We find out early on that one of their unreached goals was to attend a wild party called The Nutcracker’s Ball. Ethan manages to grab three tickets and the fun really begins on their journey to the party.

The comedy in this is spot on with the timing. Writer/Director, Jonathan Levine, takes his time setting up punchlines that are born from what seem like very passive throw away lines. Scenes are tied together that probably shouldn’t work but end up being hilarious. There are several times when this movie feels like it is going to go the traditional route and give us a big triumphant moment but it almost immediately always gets dragged kicking and screaming back into reality.

From top to bottom this cast is incredible. Lizzy Caplan as ‘the one that got away’ and Mindy Kaling as her best friend kind of make me wish I knew what they were doing while the guys are trying to get to the party. Whenever Kaling and Rogen share the screen it is nothing short of comedy gold. It is also one of the few movies where I can say that the cameos are actually really great and not the slightest bit gratuitous.

The movie isn’t perfect by any means. There seemed to be a couple of loose ends that weren’t really tied up, but those revolve around the secondary characters.   Our heroes each get their own wrap up and two of them are very satisfying. One seems just a bit rushed.

The overall criteria for reviewing anything at SemiCore Studios is really simple. Would I recommend this to you? I say…YES. It may not be theater worthy but it certainly is worth a watch this holiday season. There are some genuinely hysterical moments that I’ve never seen anybody pull off the way Levine and his wonderful cast have.

TL:DR It’s very good.