Date Night | C+

Date Night will either meet or exceed your expectations; the trailers did little to instill confidence that it would be good, but the comedic talent of Tina Fey and Steve Carell offer hope. Based on those factors, Date Night may surprise many. Expectations won't be too high for what results in a hit-or-miss comedy made of moments that go on too long, as well as one-liners that land squarely.

Fey and Carell star as a typically middle-class, suburban couple with two kids, steady jobs and little time to themselves. They have regular date nights that often involve the same restaurant, meal and conversation. When one of their married friends announces they are getting a divorce, they begin to look closer at their own situation. In an attempt to rekindle the fire, they decide a fancy night on the town is necessary to break up the monotony. But things go awry when they get caught up with some assumed thugs working for a Manhattan mob boss, throwing the night way off track.

Fey and Carell work well together, and the only misfires are when a scene runs too long, such as a pole-dancing segment toward the end that should have been probably should have been deleted. However, this is an ensemble comedy co-starring Common, Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, Ray Liotta and William Fichtner (Crash). Of the bunch, Franco and Kunis share a glorified cameo that almost feels more like a rushed Saturday Night Live rehearsal run, but still remains funny. And while Wahlberg's appearance is a rather one-note joke, it does inspire some funny moments, especially an over-the-top parody of technology in film.

Date Night is a cobbled together from standalone scenes that serve as a whole. It's nothing more than a comedic date-night diversion, but kudos to director Shawn Levy for keeping the running time down to 87 minutes. Levy dives quickly into a story filled with all the screwball antics you would expect, and that's rare these days. Improvised one-liners from Fey and Carell keep the story fresh, and the film benefits from their charisma. Date Night is a slightly-above-average comedy fitting into the landscape exactly as it should, hardly disturbing the water on either side of right-down-the-middle.