A 'Night' to Remember

by Brett Parker

One of my biggest pet peeves about cinema is movies about dating that ring completely false and toss around contrivances like grenades.  So what was so noteworthy about Edward Zwick’s About Last Night from 1986 was how much it got right in the love department.  As the film follows the trajectory of a big city romance from uneasy beginning to bittersweet end, you realize there’s enough real world stresses and recognizable complications to satisfy romantic matters at hand.  Rob Lowe and Demi Moore deliver their most engaging and tender of performances while Jim Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins dish out unique comic angles within their personas.  Most people nowadays remember the film for it’s tantalizing sex and nudity, making one nostalgic for a time when Hollywood felt more open to things like that.  While it may have strayed considerably from David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago on which its based, you must admit that watered-down David Mamet is still better than most Hollywood products out there.

As the ceremonial go-to Valentine’s Day flick of this year, About Last Night has been given the remake treatment and fans of the original will be happy to know that the newer version is as smart and sustainable as the original.  The big differences this time is the use of predominantly black leads and plenty of leeway for Kevin Hart, the Aladdin’s Genie of modern comedies, to let loose with manic energy.  I must admit that I prefer the latest version to the original, for it’s more nuanced, technically astute, charismatic, funny, and sincere in its steps.

The film follows Danny (Michael Ealy) and Debbie (Joy Bryant), two attractive Los Angeles natives who begin dating after being awkwardly set-up by Bernie (Kevin Hart) and Joan (Regina Hall), their best friends who are conducting a roller-coaster relationship of their own.  They begin a sunny courtship filled with affection and intimacy that eventually leads them down the path to a real relationship.  Even as Bernie and Joan begin to fall apart in a disastrous fashion, Danny and Debbie decide to take the next step and move in together.

As soon as the duo take the plunge and end up in the same apartment, tensions between the sexes begin to flare.  Little quirks and underlying judgements boil to the surface, and Danny and Debbie both realize that relationships take way more work than the singles-bar scene would suggest.  Does the couple have a strong enough love to overcome hardships or are they doomed to end up as troubled as Bernie and Joan?

Like the earlier film, the main objective here is to examine the trials and tribulations of a modern day couple living together, giving apt attention to the “what now?” phase that occurs just after the courtship.  While the story has the rhythms of a romantic comedy, it shows its smarts by focusing on occupational resentments, dog-owner plights, hermetic bickering, and Mars-Venus relations everyday couples can surely relate to.  Satisfaction comes in the way this remake proves to be cooler and more alluring in its distinctions, as if Prince did a cover of a Bruce Springsteen ballad.  

The challenge for actors in a glossy romantic comedy is to be be both magnetically charming and calmly relatable, two ideals which can put a peculiar hindrance on each other.  Yet this cast proves to be winning personalities that are a pleasure to spend two hours with.  Michael Ealy is an impressive star with such mega-wattage leading man qualities that it’s kind of frustrating that Hollywood hasn’t yet figured out that he could be the next Steve McQueen.  Even though he looks like a supercool movie star, he still proves effective at being a warm and sympathetic everyman.  Joy Bryant may lack the powerful beauty of Demi Moore, but she’s better at conveying everyday-female soulfulness.  Regina Hall proves to be more of a comedic live-wire than Elizabeth Perkins and she’s often hilarious in her feminine musings (her chicken mask scene is one for the ages).  And at this point in life, you’ve made up your mind about Kevin Hart: you either love this clownish tornado or you don’t.  As for me, I can’t help but be charmed by the little guy.  Instead of being weighed down by his shortcomings, Hart pushes a refreshing joy through his elfish frame.  In most of his movies, especially here, he touches on male epiphanies with such goofball sincerity that I can’t help but be touched by it.

Even with its smart perceptions, About Last Night still falls into that category of movies about pretty people in a pretty city who can easily tidy up all the messy things in their lives.  Yet its ultimate triumph is how most couples may recognize themselves through these characters and might even find a few helpful ways to deal with their own anxieties.  Plus the movie is a fine excuse for Ealy and Hart to work their cinematic muscle and further prove that they’re ready for bigger cinematic game.  Hopefully David Mamet watches (even though he’ll undoubtedly shake his head a bit) and grows a burning desire to work with both those gents.