EXPECTATIONS: I've never really watched 30 Rock for long enough to get over how annoyingly quirky it is, but Mean Girls was great, so hopefully Tina Fey will be great in this also. I've never watched the American The Office for long enough to get over the fact that Ricky Gervais isn't in it, but Carell has been in plenty of other things that were hilarious, so hopefully he will be hilarious in this.
REALITY: It's awkward how unfunny this film is. Tina Fey and Steve Carell struggle their way through this film in what sounds like ad-libbed dialog, but for some reason it just isn't funny. The premise is that poor old Phil and Claire Foster have no more excitement in their relationship. They get home from work too tired for sex, and when Blair Waldorf babysits the kids for them one night a week they end up at the same restaurant eating the same meal and making the same jokes. Boo hoo.
One night the couple take someone else's reservation at a fancy pants club. After an evening of fun and partying with the upper class glitter people they are mistaken by a couple of goons as the surname that their reservation is under and a crazy chase ensues.
The premise isn't terrible and should have provided plenty of opportunity for Fey and Carell to bounce witty banter off each other in a series of whacky situations. Instead we get flat, boring, stilted, unfunny nothing.
Mark Wahlberg almost saves the day with his topless performance, but even that scene turns into this strange, self-loathing, condescending mess. Carell spouts a speech about how even though he doesn't have abs and he gets home tired he's still a worthy human being, bla, bla, bla. Calm down, Steve Carell. You're a rich movie star and I don't relate to your character or his problems at all because I'm not an asshole.
It bothers me when movies try and relate to the 'common man' and 'everyday problems' but end up just making fun of people and assuming that anyone who isn't a celebrity wishes that they were; but the main reason this movie sucks is that it's not funny but it desperately wants to be.
*1/2
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