The stoner-bromance comedy is becoming quite the cottage industry for Seth Rogen. But, what sets his latest film, The Night Before, apart is that it is that and so much more — specifically a holiday movie about the value of friends and family.
Rogen perfected this formula in films such as Pineapple Express, Superbad and This Is The End. With The Night Before, he brings it to the heralded subgenre known as the holiday film and adds his own two cents to what it means to mark the celebrations that occur annually in December, whether it Hanukah, Christmas or any of the dozen other festive days.
In classic Rogen fashion, the comedy is heavy on the party-part of the Deck the Halls. Specifically, The Night Before follows three childhood friends (Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Anthony Mackie) who have gathered on Christmas Eve for 14 years now. One fateful December, 15 years ago, Gordon-Levitt’s parents were killed in a car crash. Not wanting him to be alone on Christmas Eve and Christmas, Rogen and Mackie made sure their dear friend thought only of revelry and not of regret and sorrow.
Fast forward to 2015 and it’s going to be their last hurrah. Although still close friends, the trio has much else to warrant their attention. Rogen’s Isaac is about to become a first-time father (with wife Betsy, played by Jillian Bell). Mackie’s Chris is becoming a huge sports superstar and demands on his time are ever increasing. And Gordon-Levitt’s Ethan, well, he still hasn’t quite gotten over his parents death and fails to seem to have anything much going on.
That fact will probably come up during this night of carousing, no? Many things come up for our big three as their issues provide The Night Before with the elements to emotionally arise above your basic party movie. Thanks for that has to lie with co-screenwriter and director Jonathan Levine. The man behind 50/50 knows how to deliver a comedy with not only smarts and one that can deliver on how-to-tackle deep life changing issues, but stories that also find the humor in the most unsuspecting of places for the audience.
Levine manages to get all his usual comedic (and dramatic for that matter) touches in a film that operates within a 24-hour period. As this is an up-all-night party venture, there is the time for assessing the state of these guys’ bromance. There is time for a soon-to-be father to freak out about whether or not he is prepared for fatherhood. There is time for a lonely and damaged soul to dig deep and realize that he wants more out of life than he ever thought he did. And yet, there’s still plenty of what Dr. Green (Michael Shannon) has to provide to make things deliciously hilarious.
Speaking of Shannon, he proves that there is nothing he cannot do. His weed dealer is in many ways mirrors the narrator of It’s a Wonderful Life. These three party animals don’t realize what they want or how to get it (sometimes its right in front of them), until they are shown the light (quite literally) by Dr. Green and his impeccably effective medicinal party materials.
Shannon is not alone in the cast awesomeness. There are a few cameos of friends of Rogen’s that will put a broad smile on everyone’s faces. Then, there’s the cameo of Miley Cyrus, as seen in The Night Before red band trailer. She proves to be a catalyst for Gordon-Levitt’s character in the most unexpected and wildly romantic ways.
That’s the thing about The Night Before. It firmly belongs alongside many a Christmas movie classic and for all the same reasons that those other films are on the list. It’s just, this one takes the most silly of routes to make its point about the reason for the season.
Grade: B+