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About Last Night
| Released |
21 March 2014 |
| Director |
Steve Pink |
Starring
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Kevin Hart, Regina Hall, Joy Bryant, Michael Ealy, Christopher McDonald, Adam Rodriguez, Joe Lo Truglio, Paula Patton |
| Writer(s) |
Leslye Headland |
| Producer(s) |
Will Gluck, William Packer |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
100 minutes |
| Genre |
Comedy, romance |
| Rating |
16 |
|
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Hart attack.
It’s quite a jarring experience to see David Mamet’s name pop up during the opening credits of the latest Kevin Hart vehicle. Ok, so the link is tenuous; About Last Night is based on the 1985 brat pack film of the same name starring Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, which in turn was based on Mamet’s play Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Far removed perhaps but it gave me the odd mental image of the fast talking Hart in a remake of Glengarry Glen Ross....
Anyway, back to the case in hand. About Last Night follows two sets of twenty something friends, Bernie (Hart) and Danny (Michael Ealy) and Joan (Regina Hall) and Debbie (Joy Bryant). After Bernie meets Joan in a club, they decide to play matchmaker with their single friends. Danny and Debbie meet and hit it off and while Bernie and Joan have a fiery break-up, they go from strength to strength. The film follows the two relationships over the course of a year as they all deal with ups and downs of modern romance.
The script was adapted by Leslye Headland, who was responsible for raunchy comedy The Bachelorette. There is a refreshing frankness to the writing that allows the characters to talk to each other about sex and relationships in a way that is honest without being crude. This is particularly true of the female characters. The last time I saw women talking in a frank and funny way about their sex lives, was when the Sex and the City ladies still resided on the small screen. It’s a welcome change to the usually male oriented world of adult comedy.
For a while then, it seems that About Last Night has a little edge to it and the dialogue snaps as director Steve Pink zips back and forth between the guy/girl talk. Unfortunately, the central relationship between Danny and Debbie just about kills the film stone dead. They are boring, earnest and inevitably torn apart by the cliche of a broody woman versus a reluctant man. Joan and Bernie may be loud and obnoxious at times but at least they have a bit of life about them. Elsewhere, there is some guff thrown in about a struggling Irish pub and Paula Patton arrives to give an excruciatingly awkward turn as Danny’s ex-girlfriend but it’s all just unnecessary padding. Despite director Pink’s energetic style, by the time the sentimental ending comes, it does so with a loud, empty clang.
- Linda O’Brien |
