Date Night

Date Night is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, written by Josh Klausner and starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey as a couple who get caught up in a case of mistaken identity while on a date. It was released in the United States on April 9, 2010, and grossed $152 million against its $55 million budget.

Plot
Phil and Claire Foster (Steve Carell and Tina Fey) are a married couple from New Jersey with two children, Ollie and Charlotte, and whose domestic life has become boring and routine. They have not had sex in over a year. Phil is a tax lawyer while Claire is a realtor. They are motivated to reignite their romance after learning that their best friends, Brad and Haley (Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Wiig), are planning to divorce to escape the married-life routine and to have more excitement in their lives.

To avoid the routine that had become their weekly "date night", Phil decides that he will take Claire to a trendy Manhattan restaurant, but they cannot get a table. Phil steals a reservation from a no-show couple, the Tripplehorns, despite Claire's misgivings. While eating they are approached by two men, Collins (Common) and Armstrong (Jimmi Simpson), who question them about a flash drive they believe Phil and Claire stole from mobster boss Joe Miletto (Ray Liotta). Phil and Claire explain that they are not the Tripplehorns, but the men threaten them at gunpoint and don't believe them. Not seeing any other way out, Phil lies and tells them it's in a boathouse in Central Park.

At the boathouse, Claire pretends to search; while Collins and Armstrong's backs are turned, Phil hits them with a paddle and escapes with Claire on a boat. At a police station, Phil and Claire talk with Detective Arroyo (Taraji P. Henson), but discover Collins and Armstrong are also detectives, presumably on Miletto's payroll. Realizing they cannot trust the police, they decide to find the real Tripplehorns. They return to the restaurant and find the cellphone number of the Tripplehorns.

Claire remembers a former client, Holbrooke Grant (Mark Wahlberg), a security expert and James Bond-like action hero. He is consistently seen never wearing a shirt. At his apartment, Grant traces the cellphone signal to an apartment owned by Thomas Felton. Collins and Armstrong arrive, but Phil and Claire escape in Grant's Audi R8.

They arrive at Felton's apartment and break in. They question Felton, nicknamed "Taste" (James Franco), and his wife "Whippit" (Mila Kunis) about the flash drive and Joe Miletto. It turns out that they went to the restaurant, but left when they spotted Collins. Realizing they are in danger, the couple give the flash drive to Phil and flee. When Phil and Claire get back in the Audi, Armstrong and Collins shoot at them. Phil and Claire crash the Audi head-on into a Ford Crown Victoria taxicab, resulting in their Audi and the Ford being attached at the bumpers. Phil and the cab driver (J. B. Smoove) decide to drive off to get away. Phil climbs into the Ford to navigate while Claire navigates the Audi. Phil checks the flash drive on the driver's Amazon Kindle and finds pictures of district attorney Frank Crenshaw (William Fichtner) with prostitutes. After evading Collins and Armstrong, they are eventually hit and are separated by an SUV. The cab falls into the river; Phil and the driver escape, but without the flash drive.

In a subway, Phil determines that Felton obtained the flash drive to blackmail Crenshaw. They return to Grant's apartment, and Grant is reluctant to help after becoming exhausted by their incompetence, but Phil begs and he agrees. Phil and Claire go to an illegal strip club that Crenshaw frequents, with Claire under the guise of a new prostitute and Phil as her pimp. After doing a pole dance for Crenshaw, they confront him and tell him they are the Tripplehorns. Collins and Armstrong come in and hold them at gunpoint and take them up to the roof with Crenshaw. Miletto arrives with henchmen and it is revealed that Crenshaw has been paid by Miletto to keep him out of jail. When Phil mentions the photos, an argument escalates between the mobsters and Crenshaw, Collins and Armstrong. Phil asks Claire to count to three (her typical method of calming their children). When she does, a helicopter appears and Arroyo and the SWAT team arrest Miletto, Crenshaw, and everyone else, as well as Collins and Armstrong. Arroyo reveals to Claire that she was notified by Grant, who supplied Phil with a wire.

After being declared heroes, Phil and Claire enjoy breakfast at a diner, where Phil admits he would marry Claire and have their kids all over again if given the chance. When they return home, they engage in enthusiastic kissing on their front lawn before lying on their backs and watching the sky.

Cast

 * Steve Carell as Phil Foster
 * Tina Fey as Claire Foster
 * Mark Wahlberg as Holbrooke Grant
 * Taraji P. Henson as Detective Arroyo
 * William Fichtner as District Attorney Frank Crenshaw
 * James Franco as Tom "Taste" Felton/Tripplehorn
 * Mila Kunis as "Whippit" Felton/Tripplehorn
 * Mark Ruffalo as Brad Sullivan
 * Kristen Wiig as Haley Sullivan
 * Common as Detective Collins
 * Jimmi Simpson as Detective Armstrong
 * Bill Burr as Detective Walsh
 * Leighton Meester as Katy
 * Gal Gadot as Natanya
 * Olivia Munn as the hostess
 * J. B. Smoove as Cab Driver
 * Michelle Galdenzi as Claw Waitress
 * will.i.am as himself
 * Nick Kroll as the Maître D
 * Max Charles as Boy on the Road
 * Jon Bernthal and Ari Graynor as a young couple
 * Ray Liotta as Joe Miletto (uncredited)

Production
Filming began in mid-April 2009.

Soundtrack
Confirmed songs for the soundtrack are listed below:


 * "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones
 * "Burn It to the Ground" by Nickelback
 * "Love Gun" by Cee-Lo Green featuring Lauren Bennett
 * "Heartbreak Warfare" by John Mayer
 * "Cobrastyle" by Teddybears featuring Mad Cobra
 * "Why Me" by Margie Balter
 * "Date Night Blues" by The Rave-Ups
 * "French Connection" by Solar Budd
 * "I'll Never Dream" by Kaskade
 * "Moving On" by Morgan Page
 * "Fresh Groove" by Muddy Funksters
 * "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You" by Leon Haywood
 * "Sex Slave Ship" by Flying Lotus
 * "God Created Woman" by A. B. O'Neill
 * "Elephant" by Spiral System
 * "Production" by Lemonworks
 * "Something Bigger, Something Better" by Amanda Blank
 * "Stone" by Terry Lynn
 * "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" by Jackie Wilson

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 220 reviews and an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "An uneasy blend of action and comedy, Date Night doesn't quite live up to the talents of its two leads, but Steve Carell and Tina Fey still manage to shine through most of the movie's flaws." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 56 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars, saying "If you don't start out liking the Fosters and hoping they have a really nice date night, not much else is going to work." Jim Vejvoda of IGN gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars saying "Date Night suggests a lot of comedic possibilities (Wahlberg's character being just one of them, and the Fosters' escape from the police station being another example) but it never quite capitalizes on all of these set-ups. Despite these shortcomings, the film still manages to be a lot of fun".

Box office
On its opening weekend, 20th Century Fox reported that Date Night grossed $27.1 million, about $200,000 more than Warner Bros. reported for Clash of the Titans. In a recount, Clash of the Titans retained the #1 spot for a second-straight weekend with $26.6 million. Date Night debuted at #2 with $25.2 million, nearly $2 million less than Fox had reported a day earlier. The film went on to gross $98.7 million in the United States and Canada and $53.6 million in other countries totaling a worldwide gross of $152.3 million.

Awards and nominations
The film won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Comedy and Fey won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Actress: Comedy.

Home media
Date Night was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 10, 2010. The DVD includes both theatrical (88 minutes) and extended (101 minutes) versions of the film, alternate scenes, two featurettes, public service announcements, and a gag reel. The Blu-ray contained a digital copy while Target had an exclusive combo pack that contained the Blu-ray, a DVD copy, and a digital copy. The Target exclusive also had a different cover.