DVD Review: Date Night

Rated PG13 for some sexual humor and innuendo, mild violence

Starring: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Common, Ray Liotta, William Fichtner, with appearances by James Franco, Mila Kunis, Kristen Wiig, and Mark Ruffalo

Phil and Claire Foster are your typical working parents - every morning their 2 young kids wake them up at the crack of dawn, they get them off to school before running off to their own jobs. In the afternoons, Claire chauffers their kids around to and from various practices and activities before making dinner and eventually crashing in bed. They do however make time for a weekly date night, but even that has become routine and bland as every week they go to the same steakhouse and order the same thing.

Learning that a couple they're close with is separating, Phil and Claire decide maybe they should change things up a bit for a feeling of something, fresh, new and exciting. The following date night, Claire decides to get all dressed up, prompting Phil to do the same when he gets home. He also insists on taking her to dinner in Manhattan (they live in Jersey) at some expensive new seafood joint Claire had mentioned previously.

Arriving at the restaurant however on a busy night with no reservations, they learn that it is full and will be forever before they can get a table. Waiting in the bar, figuring out what to do, after hearing the hostess call "Tripplehorn, party of 2" several times with no response, Phil acts quickly and claims they are the Tripplehorns. Soon after they are seated though, a couple of tough guys confront Phil and Claire, requesting to speak with them outside. Thinking these men work for the restaurant and that they're in trouble for claiming a reservation that wasn't theirs, they comply, however they quickly learn the Tripplehorns didn't show for a reason - turns out, these men work for some well-known mobster and the Tripplehorns stole a flashdrive from him with incriminating evidence on it and have been black mailing him for weeks.

Trying to explain what happened and that they're really the Fosters, not the Tripplehorns, the thugs believe Tripplehorn is just their alias and insist they take them to where the flashdrive is hidden. Scared for their lives, Phil and Claire use their wits together to try and outsmart the baddies, stay a few steps ahead of them, and find help in the big city as they also try to locate the real Tripplehorns and make them give back the flashdrive so they can go home safely.

Directed and produced by Shawn Levy (who also did the Night at the Museum films), unlike most romantic comedies that tend to be more of a chick flick, Date Night is a fun romantic comedy that both men and women can enjoy together. It's got a lot of laugh out loud comedic moments (due largely in part to the comedian genius pairing of stars Steve Carell and Tina Fey), some amusing action sequences, and a little bit of romance as we see Phil and Claire discuss and work out the issues they have in their marriage during this hectic night and try and rekindle the flame.

Be sure to make a date with your spouse or significant other to watch Date Night!