Movie Review - The Night Before

The Night Before *** (out of 5) (R) This will likely be the raunchiest Christmas comedy of the year, but don’t judge it solely on that basis. Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie play old friends who’ve maintained a tradition of Christmas Eve revelries for 15 years post high-school, despite growing apart in many ways. Rogen’s on the verge of fatherhood; Mackie’s become a star athlete; Gordon-Levitt is drifting in life, while mourning the end of his relationship with Lizzy Caplan (who wouldn’t?). The result is a mash-up of the Hangover flicks with a handful of sentimental holiday classics, carried out in one long night of milking the most of their last hurrah, careening all over New York in the process.

No point in dwelling on the details of the plot. The lads started this plan for a reason, repeated it annually for various other reasons, and have decided this will be the last time they can justify prolonging adolescence, even for that night. What we get are plenty of laughs, recognition of clever riffs on familiar seasonal fare, and a couple of novelty elements, including cameos that boost the effort. The downside is that there may be more dry stretches between laughs or other payoffs than we’d expect, and some gags that either fizzle, or drag on longer than they should.

If you’re a fan of the actors and their style of comedy, go before you hear too much about the contents. The more you’re surprised by who shows up and what they do, the bigger your ho-ho-hos will be. (11/20/15)