We see it all the time. Those faux-thoughtful, clichéd quotes on Instagram and Facebook, the ones about fighting for what you love or about having to be apart to realize how much you belong together. Well, About Last Night made every single one of them seem legitimate.
Regina Hall (Scary Movie), Kevin Hart (Ride Along), Michael Ealy (Barber Shop), and Joy Bryant (Parenthood) star in this adaptation of the 1986 classic of the same name, based on the 1974 play Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Director Steve Pink did an excellent job of modernizing and adding an urban twist to an age old tale. This is one occasion I can say without a doubt that the remake (of a remake) is far superior to the original adaptation.
We meet two sets of best friends, each with the wild, crazy one and then the more quite, reserved one. The film opens with the guys waiting in a popular bar and the ladies on the way for a date that’s not really a date. I mean, who can’t relate? Playing wing man and a possible exit strategy for your bestie? As they go back and forth talking about the events of the previous night Kevin Hart is hilarious as usual and Regina Hall plays off of him perfectly. Together they obviously made up the more wild and crazy of the two pairs. They bring to life the classic love/hate relationship or, more honestly, the couple that loves to hate each other. Joy Bryant and Michael Ealy are portrayed as the boring couple, forced together by circumstance. They never intended to fall for each other but like in reality, love and what we plan rarely matchup. Ealy’s character has been nursing a broken heart from his last failed relationship and Bryant’s too busy for dating. These young, hip, and painfully attractive urban professionals have to navigate what it means to fall in love and be in love. The premise is simple and extremely relatable.
It’s not often that a film is able to explore the many challenges that relationships face without over dramatizing or simplifying them but About Last Night was able to do it in such a way that you feel as if you’re watching friends. Those moments when you’re dealing with the jealousy that you secretly harbor for your happily coupled friends as you’re struggling with you own messed up relationship’s or lack thereof. Or the times you’re a horrified bystander when you see two people who everyone knows are perfect for each other self-destruct because of their own fears or insecurity. Then there’s the ex that just doesn't get that it’s really over and feels a need to try just one more time. All of that played out in startling clarity. Thankfully the heartbreaking moments are quickly followed up with hilarity. Seriously, I went from the ugly cry to almost falling out of the seat laughing.
About Last Night is the perfect date night move and would be great for a “Singles' Awareness Day” girls night out, with its Valentine's Day release date. Clocking in at 100 minutes of perfection, About Last Night is Rated R for sexual content, language and brief drug use.