Seth Rogen smokes Christmas in The Night Before

    1 of 2 2 of 2

      Starring Seth Rogen. Rated 14A. 

      Having made the initially startling but ultimately warm ‘n fuzzy cancer dramedy 50/50, the followup from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogan and director Jonathan Levine comes with pretty high expectations. Emphasis on the high.

      The Night Before is a stoner comedy about three friends (the suddenly ubiquitous Anthony Mackie joins in the proceedings) who are undertaking the last in a series of Christmas Eve pub crawls/blowouts in New York City.

      Chris (Mackie) has become a famous athlete and a little too busy to keep hanging out with his pals. Isaac (Rogen) is a lawyer and an expectant father, who needs to put childish things behind him. And Ethan (Gordon-Levitt) is the inspiration for their annual ritual, the one who loves it desperately because he has the least going on outside of their friendship. As Ethan struggles with life and love, his friends wonder if they have really done the right thing by him.

      Given that this filmmaking team could find the funny side of cancer, you’d think they would have interesting angles on Christmas, a season of endless absurdity and conflict. Indeed, the filmmakers are not shy about introducing absurdity and whimsy, particularly in the form of a wraith-like pot dealer played by Michael Shannon, or creating some unexpectedly beautiful visual compositions.

      But the movie is more interested in its characters, and how their brotherhood has been displaced and marginalized by newer ties to in-laws and responsibilities. This is not a particularly happy idea, which might be why a generally cheerful, silly, and recklessly gross movie also feels paradoxically sobering, even—or especially—when its man-children are at their most baked.

      Comments