About Last Night (2014)

Director: Steve Pink

Cast: Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Regina Hall

Synopsis: Follow two couples as they journey from the bar to the bedroom and are eventually put to the test in the real world.

Bernie (Kevin Hart – This is the End) and Danny (Michael Ealy – 2 Fast 2 Furious) are a couple of twenty-something friends whose lives seem to revolve around their women no matter how much either – or both – of them might insist otherwise. Bernie attempts to keep his relationship with Joan (Regina Hall) on a purely physical level by carefully avoiding any mention of the L-word, but Danny is a little more willing to make a commitment to Debbie (Joy Bryant – Three Way) after the two of them are set up on a blind date by Bernie and Joan.

Although it’s Kevin Hart who receives top-billing in this tepid romantic comedy/drama, the movie focuses more on the relationship between Danny and Debbie which follows a highly formulaic cycle attuned to the passing seasons. The contrast between this hip, cool couple who co-habit in the kind of spacious apartment that only office workers in a Hollywood movie can afford, and the comedy duo who can relate to each other only while in the sack (and dressed as a chicken at one point) for 95-per-cent of the running time couldn’t be more obvious. Unfortunately, it means About Last Night comes across as a little schizophrenic as it ping-pongs between emotional drama and broad comedy. This imbalance is exacerbated by director Steve Pink’s decision to edit the film as if it’s an action movie, rapidly cutting back and forth between each character while they do nothing more than hold a conversation. It’s almost dizzying sometimes – and not in a good way.

Hart and Hall come across as stereotypes of the sassy black variety dating back to the 70s and beyond, and I was constantly expecting Hall’s head to begin moving from side to side as she planted her hands on her hips or extended the forefinger of an outstretched hand skyward. It’s quite possible that their dialogue together was hilarious, but quite honestly, they spoke so quickly that I was hard pushed to understand one word out of three most of the time.

It’s a remake of the 1986 Demi Moore and Rob Lowe movie, which was also something of a dud. Clearly David Mamet’s acclaimed play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, from which both films are adapted, works better on the stage than the screen.

(Reviewed 5th May 2014)