The Night Before

Review: This 2015 stoner comedy stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, & Anthony Mackie as a trio of friends who party every Christmas Eve. However when one of them (Rogen) has a child on the way & the other has recently become a pro sports star (Mackie), they decide this will be the last year of their annual tradition. The film is of course funny, but also surprisingly emotional. The supporting cast includes Mindy Kaling, Lizzy Caplan, & Jillian Bell, as well as one other actor I will mention as my high. One other thing I want to directly point out is the awesome chemistry between the three leads. It felt like watching three guys now well into adulthood who have been friends since their teens. The way they interacted with one another felt like an accurate depiction of male friendship & I really appreciated that. Similar to ‘Bad Santa’ this is an adult Christmas comedy that may be a good watch after the kids go to bed. Or you can watch it with them if you want. I’m not gonna tell you how to parent.

High: Spiritual Guides are huge in Christmas movies. Henry Travers as Clarence in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ Cary Grant & Denzel Washington as Dudley in ‘The Bishop’s Wife’ & ‘The Preacher’s Wife.’ The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, & Future in various adaptations of ‘A Christmas Carol.’ Heck, I’d even throw Tom Hanks’s Conductor from ‘The Polar Express’ in there. And in this film you have Michael Shannon as Mr. Green, a drug dealer who guides the three men to help them work out whatever problems are going on in their lives. And honestly, it worked so well. I really enjoyed the originality and there was no pun intended of a drug dealer being my ‘High.’

Low: While the three men were great as a unit, I don’t think they quite hold up as individual characters. However, this film is by no means a character study, so that really doesn’t matter, I just had to put something here.

Rating: 7.5/10