MANIC CHRISTMAS TO ALL
Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie and Joseph Gordon-Levitt give heartstrings a tug as BFFs in The Night Before,
Amid the comic antics surrounding Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie as buddies on a manic, drug-soaked Christmas Eve, The Night Before also gives heartstrings a tug as longtime best friends get their halls decked one last time before making way for adult respon- sibilities. The years are catching up with Isaac (a scene-stealing Rogen), now a lawyer with a pregnant (and endlessly patient) wife, Betsy (Jillian Bell). Chris (Mackie) is a pro-football star getting too famous to hang with guys from his youth. And sort-of musician Ethan (Gordon-Levitt) is slowly realizing there’s something missing in his life, pining for the exgirlfriend (Lizzy Caplan) he just wasn’t ready to commit to.
Since Ethan lost his parents in a car crash 14 years before, the three guys have spent Dec. 24 together, as narrator Tracy Morgan explains in an amusing Clement Clarke Moore-inspired verse that sets the comic tone.
Their annual rituals never vary: cheesy theme sweaters, Chinese food and Run-D.M.C. karaoke.
This year, thanks to Betsy, Isaac also has a sampler box of illegal substances.
One of Chris’s sponsors provides a limo and Ethan comes up with the best goody of all: three tickets to the epic secret party they have always dreamed of attending, the Nutcracka Ball.
Writer-director Jonathan Levine ( 50/50) teams again with Rogen and Gordon-Levitt but this comedy owes as much to Pineapple Express and This Is The End (penned by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who contributes here as well) with gross-outs sharing screen time with warm sentiments.
Multiple side plots prompt cameos that work (and one that doesn’t), often leading back to Michael Shannon as a laid-back philosopher/weed dealer who comes with a nod to David Johansen’s Ghost of Christmas Past cabbie from Scrooged.
Mindy Kaling is fun as Isaac’s co- worker, whose lurid selfies from “James” are strangely tempting to the very stoned Isaac.
Broad City’s Ilana Glazer plays a pushy Grinch who does all she can to undermine Chris, dropping a Home Alone sight gag that adds to a growing pile of asides and pop culture references.
Occasionally suffering from poor focus and bits that go on too long, like the joke that builds throughout several scenes and finally hits its punch line with a letdown, The Night Before strives to remind us what matters most isn’t how you spend the holidays but who you’re with. Or, if you prefer, what you’re on.
Occasionally suffering from poor focus and bits that go on too long, The Night Before strives to remind us what matters most