The Night Before
This is one of those movies that, for me, stirred up an almost irrational hope that it would be great, when really, simply entertaining would be more than suitable. I think a big part of it for me is that I saw, in the characters played by Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie, a reflection of where I am with my two best guy friends, Ronnie and Dave (the other voices of Yahoos With a Microphone, for those who don’t know). Like Issac (Rogen), Ethan (Gordon-Levitt) and Chris (Mackie), the three of us seem to be at crossroads in our lives. Dave is about to have his first kid, I was getting married just after the film came out, and Ronnie is working on figuring out things in his life. Though I have a few other very dear and close friends, Ron and Dave are very much my “ride or die homeys,” as the three main characters are called at a key moment in “The Night Before.” They’ve been there more for me during some of the toughest moments in my life than most anyone else outside of my parents, and it was truly a pleasure to have them standing up there for me when I got married last month. That is the kind of friendship Issac, Ethan and Chris have in this movie.
You look at the trailers for this movie, and it looks like another raunchy, bawdy concept comedy from the team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and a lot of their buddies from previous films, following in the footsteps of the likes of “This is the End,” “Superbad,” “Pineapple Express” and “The Interview.” There’s another key player in this film, though, and that’s director Jonathan Levine, who also wrote the story and co-wrote the script with Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir and Goldberg. He hooked up with Rogen and Goldberg first when he directed “50/50,” which they produced, inspired by a friend’s struggle with cancer. That project is also where they first brought Joseph Gordon-Levitt into their clique of talent, and it’s good to see that the heart and humor they brought to that film is intact for something more obviously, and patently, crazy, because it serves the new film well.
The story of “The Night Before” is simple enough: 14 years ago, Ethan’s parents died in an accident right before Christmas. On Christmas Eve that year, Issac and Chris came over to Ethan’s house, and took him out to take his mind off his grief, and so that he wouldn’t be alone on Christmas. Now, Issac and Chris are at the point where their lives are pulling them in different directions: Issac is about to have a child with his wife, Betsy (Jillian Bell), and Chris is having a breakout season playing football, although at 34, it’s not hard to see why Issac and Ethan have questions as to how he’s gotten so good recently. Meanwhile, Ethan has never really found his footing, with a promising relationship with Diana (Lizzy Caplan) cut short because he couldn’t commit. For him, this tradition is important, although he has “mutually” agreed to end it with this one since it’s getting difficult for Issac and Chris to maintain their end of it. All the more reason for them to make this one count, and Ethan may have just found a way to do that when he scores tickets to the most exclusive holiday party in New York. Since Diana and her friend Sarah (a very funny Mindy Kaling) have tickets for the same party, this could be a transformative night for Ethan.
One of the great reliefs of having the team making it that this film has is that you know that right off the bat, we will not be in store for another stupid, saccharine holiday comedy that is good for one viewing and nothing else. That said, you’re probably best not to expect a “Christmas Story” or “Home Alone” or “White Christmas” or “It’s a Wonderful Life”-type classic, either. This film knows all the right buttons to push, though, for maximum entertainment value, although some of the gags (like Chris’s chasing of a grinch of a woman (Ilana Glazer) when she manipulates him, and steals his weed) fall flat. Still, it’s hard not to get a kick out of just how whacked out Issac gets when he starts experimenting with the little box of drugs Betsy gives him, and the scene where Ethan confronts two drunk Santas on the street has an enjoyable subtext that feeds into his storyline. The cast excels in their roles, with Gordon-Levitt, Rogen and Mackie displaying effortless chemistry together, Caplan making a compelling “romantic lead,” and Bell simply hilarious as Issac’s pregnant wife. The biggest props among the supporting cast, though, goes to Michael Shannon as Mr. Green, a pot dealer the trio have to meet throughout the night- it’s one of the most controlled, crazy performances Shannon has given since he first started to make a name for himself in features. What makes “The Night Before” really stick the landing as a holiday funhouse is the grounding of the story in an palpable emotional journey about how friendships get tougher and tougher to maintain the older we get. It’s a hard less for all three protagonists, but harder still for Ethan, who has relied on these two as his “rocks” for 14 years. Now, it’s time for him to find his own footing and live his life the way he wants to. He seems ready to by the end, and I’d love to see more of that down the road.
