Some Hits, A Lot of Misses
The previews made this seem like a cross between the Hangover and Pineapple Express. A raunchy buddy comedy about guys spending one last night partying it up on Christmas Eve. It had some of those elements, but its also seemed to be completely confused about what it wanted to be.
Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are liekable actors who have done great work in other films. However, their chemistry here is kind of missing. The jokes seem kind of haphazard and the tone of the film veered back and forth between sentimental holiday drama and slapstick humor. Then I read the trivia section and saw that most of the jokes were ad-libbed which explains this disjointed feel. Sometimes that approach works, but for this movie, IMO, it didn't.
The three character are lifelong friends who have been spending every Christmas Eve partying. This is the final year as Rogen's Isaac is about to become a dad, Mackie's Chris is busting out as a professional football player, and Gordon-Levitt's Ethan is in the romantic dumps. He recently broke up with his girlfriend, Diana (a wasted Lizzy Caplan), and he feels like he is being left behind by his buddies who are moving on with their lives. Michael Shannon is great as a drug dealer and former high school teacher of the trio. Mindy Kaling is another wasted asset as the best friend of Caplan's character. Jillian Bell has the best role as Rogen's understanding wife. Finally, Ilana Glazer is a street-wise girl who taunts Mackie throughout the film.
There was so much to work with here and it all just doesn't come together. Each character had some interesting back story that never gets fleshed out. Isaac's fear of parenthood, Chris' fear of failing so he juices, and Ethan's fear of being left behind are all given very quick appearances and then disappear. They were created just to appear to give the character's depth without actually giving them any. The romance between Ethan and Diana lacks any heat.
There are some hilarious moments to be sure. The attempted theft of a horse-drawn sleigh, Isaac attending midnight Mass high on drugs with his in-laws, and Glazer's Grinch character give the movie some laughs. There was so much potential here and it felt wasted.
My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.