Skip to main content

The Night Before review

The Night Before is a raunchy holiday romp without the sickly sweet filling

Crude, ridiculous, and just plain dumb fun.

At this point, irreverent holiday comedies have become their very own subset of the holiday film genre. From The Ref to Bad Santa, the offerings are as varied as they are plentiful, spanning the spectrum from dark satire to over-the-top raunchy hijinks.

Recommended Videos

The Night Before, the new comedy from Warm Bodies and 50/50 director Jonathan Levine, hails from the latter side of the genre and offers a holiday story that’s equal parts drug-addled escapade (a la The Hangover) and slapstick coming-of-age story that, like so many other examples of the genre, also manages to be fairly endearing amid all the toilet humor and racy gags.

Co-written and directed by Levine, The Night Before casts Seth Rogen (The Interview), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper), and Anthony Mackie (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) as a trio of childhood friends who have reunited every year on Christmas Eve to engage in all manner of debauchery. With Rogen’s character about to become a father, Mackie’s character about to become a bona fide celebrity, and Gordon-Levitt’s character still uncertain about where his life his headed, the three friends decide to bring an end to their annual tradition with one last, crazy night in New York City.

It would be easy to dismiss The Night Before as dumb fun, and in many ways that’s exactly what it is, but in this case that’s a good thing. As with other holiday films of its ilk, it playfully subverts (or outright ridicules) the usual, sappy-sweet holiday tropes and careens through the boundaries of so much of what is often held dear about the season. Everything is fair game, from sidewalk Santas and ugly sweaters to midnight Mass and Christmas marriage proposals, and Levine and his trio of leading men bounce from one ridiculous turn of events to the next on their merry adventure through the Big Apple.

In the grand old tradition of classic holiday movies, The Night Before also recruits some familiar faces to help tell its story. Miley Cyrus, James Franco, and Tracy Morgan all play brief parts in the characters’ journey from one end of the city to the other, but of the more substantial supporting roles, Oscar nominee Michael Shannon really stands out as a sketchy drug dealer who repeatedly gets pulled into the friends’ wild night — a role he plays to wonderfully creepy perfection.

It would be easy to dismiss The Night Before as dumb fun, and in many ways that’s exactly what it is, but in this case that’s a good thing.

To his credit, Levine does a nice job of maintaining momentum in the film from the moment the trio set out on their all-night holiday booze-and-drug-fest to the film’s somewhat shmaltzy final moments. Where other films might ease up on the jokes for the occasional reminder about the true meaning of the season, The Night Before rarely leans heavily on sentiment, and when it does, the moment often serves as the set-up for a joke. It’s a strategy that serves the film well by preventing it from becoming yet another sappy Christmas story masquerading as a comedy.

The trio of Rogen, Gordon-Levitt, and Mackie show relatively good chemistry as the film’s leading men, but never manage to seem quite as comfortable with each other as one would expect longtime friends to be. It’s telling that most of the film’s memorable moments involve the characters interacting with their supporting cast instead of each other, but to be fair, the film’s plot spends a surprising amount of time with the characters on solo adventures around the city.

Still, all three leads manage to carry their respective parts of the story along well, and the funny moments tend to be funnier when Rogen, Mackie, and Gordon-Levitt are bouncing off of each other both literally and figuratively.

Although The Night Before manages to pack a lot of “R”-rated drug humor and sex jokes into its 101-minute running time, it still strikes a balance between its holiday theme and its over-the-top humor. Despite its flaws, the film successfully delivers on the experience promised not only by its trailer but by all of the best examples of irreverent holiday comedies: poking fun at the traditions and tropes of holiday movies while still finding sincerity buried deep in the heart of all that sentiment and schmaltz.

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
Where to watch Commanders vs. Bengals: NFL Week 3 Monday Night Football live stream
Joe Burrow holds a football and sets up to throw.

Week 3 of the NFL season concludes with a special Monday Night Football doubleheader. In the night's second game, Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders (1-1) head to Ohio to play Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals (0-2). Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will be on the call, with reporter Lisa Salters and rules analyst Russell Yurk providing updates throughout the night.

It wasn't a pretty Week 2 performance in Washington, but the Commanders managed to defeat the Giants 21-18 despite failing to score a touchdown. While Washington found a way to win, Cincinnati lost the game to the Kansas City Chiefs in the closing moments. After a pass interference penalty kept the Chiefs' drive alive, kicker Harrison Butker nailed a game-winning field goal to beat the Bengals 26-25.
Watch the Commanders vs. Bengals live stream on ABC and ESPN+
https://twitter.com/JoeyDeBerardino/status/1836833662681113046

Read more
The best movie and show trailers of the week of September 12
The cast of The Franchise.

Any week that includes a first look at a new HBO series and a new DreamWorks Animation flick is going to rank among the best movie and show trailers of the month. But for this week, that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's also a delicious throwback trailer for Marvel's next series, as well as previews of the political firestorm movie of the year and the origin story of a TV comedy franchise. These are the best movie and show trailers for the week of September 12.
The Franchise

The Franchise is HBO's new comedy series that spoofs superheroes by chronicling the behind-the-scenes chaos of a comic book movie. The Franchise's cast includes Himesh Patel, Lolly Adefope, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Hynes, Darren Goldstein, and Isaac Cole Powell. The Boys' Aya Cash and Captain America: Civil War's Daniel Brühl also star.

Read more
How to watch Bills vs. Dolphins on Thursday Night Football
Josh Allen stares on the football field.

Thursday Night Football returns to Prime Video for the 2024 NFL season. Tonight's Week 2 game features Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills (1-0) flying to South Beach to take on Tyreek Hill and the Miami Dolphins (1-0). This is a matchup between AFC East rivals. The last time these two teams played was in Week 18 of last season, with the Bills winning 21-14 to clinch their fourth straight division title.

Thursday night's game feels more important than usual for only the second week of the season because of the divisional component. The winner will have the inside track in the race for the AFC East. Below, you'll find live-stream information on how to watch Thursday Night Football.
When and where is the game between the Bills and Dolphins?
https://twitter.com/NFLonPrime/status/1833959683863838841

Read more