Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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16 UCW JANUARY 6-12, 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM The last time I reviewed a Jonathan Levine film I pointed out he was the guy that directed the 2006 horror film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. Back in 2011 that was a yet unreleased relatively obscure Amber Heard flick, and soon after his cancer comedy, 50/50, did well it finally got a stateside release. Well, now Levine has combined the stoner comedy with a holiday film to create The Night Before (101 minutes). In a nutshell, Seth Rogen, essentially playing a slightly more matured version of his character from Knocked Up, is friends with Joseph "Cobra Commander" Gordon-Levitt. Also, Anthony "The Falcon" Mackie is there to be a sports star and do his best to dodge all the stereotype bullets the script throws his way. Standing outside the window and watching the boys have fun in their clubhouse are Lizzy Caplan, Mindy Kaling and Jillian Bell, two of whom are dangerously close to the Mila Kunis niche of providing tacit approval to whatever shenanigans the male star decides to have fun with. The movie starts off in the grand tradition of Disney/Hallmark movies by killing off some parents. Ethan Miller (Gordon-Levitt) is bummed by the terrible timing and trying to decide what he should do with the gifts that he got for his Mom and Dad when his best friends Isaac (Rogen) and Chris (Mackie) stop by his apartment to drag him out for drinks and tomfoolery. A montage, coupled with a Tracy Morgan narration, covers the next seven years of them spending Christmas together. In 2008, they learn about something called the Nutcracker Ball, which is apparently a cross between Carnivale, an orgy, and an explosion at the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament factory. After montaging through a few more years the film arrives at the present day. Ethan has not managed to mature past the death of his parents, Isaac is married to a very pregnant Betsy (Bell), and Chris decided to become a famous football player instead of, I don't know, a physicist, or psychologist, or video game designer, or zookeeper or whatever because he was raised by a very religious single mother? Also, he uses steroids, because remember Jose Canseco back in 2005? And I am officially over that entire subplot. Feel free to make up your own happy ending. Because Betsy giving Isaac a selection of illegal drugs to party with, no problem. But steroids cross a line. Anyway, Ethan is working as an elf and pining for his ex-girlfriend Diana (Caplan) when he finds three tickets to the famous Nutcracker Ball. He and his buddies are having one last night of Christmas debauchery before settling down, and plan to end their night of taking drugs and referencing other Christmas movies at the infamous party. Along the way, Isaac continues to do all the drugs and make wacky mistakes that don't cause any permanent damage to anyone. There is also a fairly predictable subplot involving their high school drug dealer, Michael Shannon, which takes a hard left once Ethan finally completes his character arc of getting back together with his ex-girlfriend, which solves all his crushing emotional problems. Overall, the film borrows elements from so many other movies it played as something I had seen before. Not all the elements worked well together, but it did manage to entertain me at least as much as every other studio-released Holiday movie from the last five years or so. If it has a glaring flaw, it is in relying too heavily on the male leads and using too many borrowed plot points. Now playing at Patriot 14 + IMAX. Count the Home Alone References The Night Before (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Hours: 9am-6pm Mon-Fri 3006 Bragg Blvd. 910.323.1791 50% Off SALE Christmas items for men, women, children and babies!