Date Night 2010

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: A skeleton praying its leads will bring it to life. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: As Date Night revels in how danger and near-death experiences can reignite a marriage, it revels equally in how Carell and Fey can make a formulaic movie seem fresh, simply by virtue of their respective comic chops. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: These are two of the funniest people ever on television, yet their big-screen Date Night is a dreary, uninspired waste of their talents -- and those of the top-name cast inexplicably appearing in small throwaway roles. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: You leave the theater satisfied yet strangely displeased. That's what happens when good actors are stranded in a lame movie that is not worthy of their talents. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: Date Night" is not exactly "Scenes From a Marriage," and yet, with Carell and Fey delivering both raucous comedy and real characters, "Date Night" is surprisingly smart, funny and sweet. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: In three or four scenes, they get a rhythm going, but the editing is smash-and-bash. Shawn Levy is not a director who honors performers' rhythms. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The movie's stars, Steve Carell and Tina Fey, are exactly what they seem. They're perfect casting in a short, sweet comedy that makes the most of their genial gifts until it loses its sense of proportion. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Date Night could have been another The Bounty Hunter -- a DOA movie-star romantic comedy mixed with implausible action/adventure. But instead it's the happiest of surprises: a genuinely sweet, funny movie. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: There's something genuine and more than a little sad at the core of Levy's poorly staged, modestly amusing comedy, but it isn't the part that involves flash drives, blackmail, and glowering, gun-toting bad guys. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: There is some funny stuff here, particularly the asides between Carell and Fey, who have a comfortable chemistry. You can certainly believe that they're a harried married couple. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Date Night manages to live down to its store-brand title. But it might have worked as a serious comedy about two people trying to resex their marriage and air their mounting grievances. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The action plotting is quick and clean and there are some funny supporting turns. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Fey, in particular, seems uncomfortable with the shenanigans. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: Carell and Fey really are like Fred and Ginger, so smooth and sure-footed in their comic grace(lessness) and timing. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The screenplay, by Josh Klausner, proves that the easy laugh isn't always the best. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Its slapstick story of a married couple enduring outrageous fortune offers a lot of laughs, a bit of romance and plenty for either sex to relate to. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Carell and Fey project an intellectual sharpness and an understanding of what's important in life - and what's ridiculous - that are the hallmarks of endearingly sane adults capable of sustaining both a hot career and a warm marriage-with-children. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It is diverting, and it gives these two their first chance to work together, yet you can't help but wish that the film functioned on as high a level as its stars do. Read more

Ramin Setoodeh, Newsweek: In Date Night, Carell is the cake batter that holds up Fey's icing. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Fey, in particular, finds herself in the situation of a prima ballerina unaccountably dancing with the Rockettes. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: If Date Night doesn't itself quite justify a date night -- really, do you know what sitters charge these days? -- it'll be a fun rent in six months. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Through it all, Carell and Fey are charming and sly. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A reasonably amusing way to pass Saturday night with a significant other. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Carell and Fey mine the humor of predictable characters acting unpredictably -- and frequently, they strike gold. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: As dynamic as the duo of Carell and Fey might be, they prove unable to reverse the trend of padded and forgettable action/comedies. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: A very mild recommendation, only because the immensely funny and appealing stars outshine the pedestrian material. Their respective sitcoms are funnier and more sophisticated than this movie. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A movie like Date Night encourages Hollywood comedy to occasionally dial down, and realize that comedy emerges from characters and situations and can't be manufactured from manic stunts and overkill. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Here's proof that Tina Fey and Steve Carell could squeeze laughs out of a phone book. Read more

Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon.com: What comes as a welcome surprise is how Date Night manages to make sport of romantic movie conventions without being mean about them. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Josh Klausner wrote the screenplay, but it really does seem as though some of its funniest lines were ad-libbed. Either that or Klausner deserves credit for tailoring a screenplay so completely to his actors so as to make it seem that they wrote it. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: It gets one crucial element of comic filmmaking right in a way that few recent comedies have. It's cast, down to the smallest role, with genuinely funny performers, people who understand how to time a joke, deliver a setup, underplay a deadpan glance. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Carell and Fey ... can telegraph anxiety, humiliation and exasperated affection in a glance. They give the film a boost even Levy can't deflate. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: This shrill caper is more like a blind date between fingernail and chalkboard. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Tina Fey is really funny. Steve Carell is really funny. Date Night stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell. Ergo, Date Night must be really ... sorry, I wish it worked that way almost as much as the studios do. But no. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Watching Carell and Fey in action, trading quips and dodging gunfire as they attempt to make their way home to white-picket-fence suburbia, makes you wonder why it's taken so long to bring these two gifted comics together. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: It's a lively, often astute piece of marital sociology wrapped up in an action frolic involving an extremely average New Jersey couple. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Fey and Carell are better than this, but when the other options in the action-romcom territory include such efforts as The Bounty Hunter, who's complaining? Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: This is the rare screwball comedy that is superbly paced, cleverly plotted and hilarious from start to finish. Read more

Lael Loewenstein, Variety: A romantic comedy with action, edge and genuine chemistry between its leads, Date Night scores a home run. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: In the hands of, say, a Greg Kinnear and a Sarah Jessica Parker, the thing could be a disaster. It's not. Not by a long shot. Read more