Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie are the leads with fun supporting work by the likes of Jillian Bell, Lizzy Caplan, Michael Shannon, Mindy Kaling, and others.
Plot: Levitt, Rogen, and Mackie play three friends with a long-running tradition of hitting the town (New York City) on Christmas eve. They are all getting older and have different responsibilities pulling them apart. Rogen has a baby on the way. Mackie is trying to navigate his current fame in a resurgent season in his NFL career. Levitt is stuck in place. The three agree that this Christmas Eve will be the last one for their specific tradition. Oh, and Rogen's wife gives him a box full of all the drugs, Mackie keeps getting his weed stolen by an aspiring Grinch, Levitt isn't over his ex-girlfriend who they run into, and they are on a quest to track down an elusive party called the Nutcracker Ball.
Thoughts:
This is a funny movie. I've come to expect nothing less from this group. The screenplay was written by a collection of Rogen's buddies. The director also directed 50/50 with Rogen and Levitt. Rogen and his partner in most things, Evan Goldberg, produced this. You should really already know if you'll like it or not.
The story is part Christmas Carol, part Superbad. It all takes place on Christmas Eve. It's linked together by a weed dealer they know, played hysterically by Michael Shannon, who acts as Scrooge's ghosts, helping each of the leads come to terms with their future (Rogen), present (Mackie), and past (Levitt). The idea of how friendships evolve and change is a recurring one with Rogen and Goldberg's productions, from The Interview and This is the End, all the way back to Superbad. So, this does right by that part. The story runs into some trouble elsewhere. At times, the shorthand all these frequent collaborators have is almost problematic. Several scenes play like the actors are riffing but still needed to fit in a specific line of dialogue, which sticks out from the rest. There's a lot of telling rather than showing. I'm being really nit-picky, I know, but all the rhythms were a little off because of it.
As a comedy though, it's got everything you need. Physical comedy. Gross-out humor. Stoner comedy. Entertaining cameos. This was made to be part of a double feature with A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas.
Elephant in the Room: Isn't it a little early for a Christmas movie? Well, the box office numbers certainly think so. I'm curious to see how well it plays for the rest of the season. Probably the better question to ask is if we need a Christmas comedy with a hard R rating like this. I'm not really sure. Love, Actually earns its R rating, but it's somehow also a hopelessly sweet movie. The Night Before has a sweetness as well, but that's not its focus. It goes hard after the Pineapple Express crowd, who, I guess need Christmas movies too. I don't know, it's likely to work its way into my Christmas rotation, although I'm incredibly biased.
To Sum Things Up:
This is the adult Christmas comedy I never needed but am glad I have now. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anthony Mackie, and Seth Rogen have a great rapport and a strong collection of comedic performers keep this moving along and funny all the way through.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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