Seth Rogen is a rather intelligent producer. He and his pals (including Evan Goldberg, James Franco, Mindy Kaling, Lizzy Caplan, Randall Park etc.) have created an unusual semi-surreal kind of weird comedies, like 'The interview' and 'This is the end'.
In The Night Before (2015/II) (because there is another (2015/I) movie with the same name in 2015 starring David Faustino!)..3 friends spend every Xmas together in search for a great party and having a good time. The dramatic element here is that one of them lost his parents in a car accident and the other 2 are trying to be supportive.
The problem is that this movie seems like it is designed to provoke, even shock. Trying to extrude laughter through harsh and dramatic situations without actually entering the limits of a black comedy.
Drugs and 'tripping' play a major part in the movie. A tone of supernatural. And of course sex and relationships and friendships, the 'bro' kind. Yet there are a lot to be desired and a major part of the film, although uneven, takes the lead and makes lifelong friendship to seem like it is just an excuse for some crude jokes like blood from a dripping nose into someone's drink or vomiting into a church during Xmas mass.
Overall: You wont be missing much if you avoid to see this. In the end, the basic idea of bro-friendship seems like an excuse from some surreal gags.

62 out of 109 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

I was reluctant to see the film. I heard it was vulgar and tasteless. I saw bad santa in the day, and although it was filthy and offensive, I laughed a lot. the night before is neither vulgar or tasteless. it's just nothing. no one in the theater laughed, no one walked out. I actually couldn't give it a number. seth rogen is, well, seth rogan. no acting stretch of any kind. Joseph gorden levitt, who reminds me a great deal of a young johnny depp (pre-stardom), is totally wasted, no pun, here. I was hoping for laughs and instead was wondering what the film maker had in mind. I couldn't tell. I know movies are subjective and we all don't see the same movie. reviews are mixed. I wanted to laugh. no luck there.

59 out of 110 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Can't understand people watching this moving looking for the next mircle on 34th Street..if you watch this for what it is..you will find it hits all the right numbers. References to other Christmas classics throughout, celebrities poking fun at themselves, and just general bafoonary throughout. Rogan out does himself over acting his drug trip and its ups and downs. Great movie. (Horrible 'film'..but great movie)

3 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Fourteen years prior, Ethan Miller's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) parents passed away on Christmas Eve. His two best friends, Isaac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie), have been with him in support on this night by having an annual tradition of going out on Christmas Eve. However, because Isaac is going to be a father and Chris has become famous, all three decide to have one last Christmas Eve out in New York City.
I loved this movie and my little son Muhammad did,but was embarrassed by the strong sexual content since he is a child. I told him to close his eyes if he sees nudity.
This movie is great for teens and adults,but has unsuitable adult material in it which offend kids.
I am a Muslim woman and I celebrate Christmas too with my only one beloved son Muhammad.
Honestly the Jewish men were so cute and funny they really made me laugh from start to finish.
Most Muslim Community Around The World Buy Kosher Jewish Food. Me As A Secular Belly Dancer,I respect every religion and wish you all a Very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year and I Wish The Evil Of ISIS Terrorists Muslims Will End Soon & Peace Agreement With Israel & Arab Muslim Countries Will Happen In The Year 2016.

90 out of 181 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

The only reason I got to the end of this stinker of a movie is that I paid money for it.
I thought the premise for it was alright - 3 longtime friends go out on the town for their last Christmas together. As it turns out, each of them is dealing with a personal issue. One is going to be a father and is afraid he's not prepared. One is a professional athlete who is using steroids to stay in the game. The third is making excuses for why his life is going nowhere.
Then, it gets really, really stupid. Isaac's wife gives him a box of street drugs for Christmas and he takes all of them. Instead of dying of an overdose, he throws up, bleeds into a woman's drink, and generally goes around being gross. This is, believe it or not, one of the main punch lines of the movie.
Drugs are so prevalent in this movie, they are practically a character of their own. There is a superficial attempt to draw on Dickens' 'Christmas Carol' by calling their dope dealer the Spirit of Christmas Present, and drug-taking in general is made out to be synonymous with partying and friendship. Even the fabulous party they finally get to after years of trying literally has a bowl of drugs on the table. And yet, for some reason, their athlete buddy is called out and shamed for taking steroids. I don't get that steroid use is so horrible when everyone else is taking cocaine, dope, mushrooms, and every other drug they can find.
I also disliked the fact that nobody in this movie could actually explain anything or say anything adult. Isaac's wife says to him that she is a 'f*cking piece of sh*t'. As it turns out, she means that she fears she might not be a good mother. What happened to 'I'm worried' or 'I feel unprepared'? Why can't anyone actually articulate anything beyond the most basic grunting sounds? These are meant to be educated people (Isaac is a lawyer) and yet they all speak like 14-year-olds who think it's cool to swear when their parents aren't around.
At the end of this movie, I just felt depressed. I feel sorry for anyone whose life is anything like these pointless characters, and anyone who thinks that the 'partying' portrayed in this movie is even remotely fun.
There was no real plot to this movie. The characters are flat and uninteresting, and don't actually learn anything or develop, despite the premise of the movie. The humour is beyond juvenile. Conclusion: a complete waste of time.

46 out of 89 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

'THE NIGHT BEFORE': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Christmas comedy flick, from producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. It re-teams Rogen with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Jonathan Levine (the trio last worked together on 2011's '50/50'). The film tells the story of three best friends (Rogen, Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie), that reunite for one last Christmas Eve; of partying together (a tradition they've carried on for over a decade), before moving on to different adulthood things (like parenting). The movie was written by Levine, Goldberg, Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir. It costars Lizzy Caplan, Jillian Bell, Mindy Kaling and Michael Shannon. I loved it; like I love nearly every movie Rogen and Goldberg put out!
Ethan (Gordon-Levitt) lost his parents, in a drunk driving accident, over a decade earlier on Christmas Eve. His two best friends, Isaac (Rogen) and Chris (Mackie), have been celebrating the holiday with him, by getting wasted and partying, ever since (on Christmas Eve). Now Isaac is about to have a baby, and Chris is becoming a very popular athlete; so they've decided to end the tradition, with one last big 'night out'. Lots of drugs, sex and other crazy antics follow.
The movie is hilarious, from start to finish; I laughed-out-loud, nearly the entire film. The performances are great, and the script is brilliant. The only problem I have with the movie though, is the cheesy melodrama; whenever the film tries to get too serious, it doesn't work (and the romance sucks). That doesn't take place too often though; other than that, it's a new Christmas movie classic!
Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/iHtyjLDJ1Ko

50 out of 104 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

In the vein of Bad Santa and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation comes this strictly-for-adults Christmas-themed comedy that, going by the fantastic trailer alone, you would expect to be filled to the brim with hearty entertainment. Unfortunately The Night Before is one of those saddening experiences in which the trailer features all of the good bits and, worse still, even those moments aren't that funny once put into context. Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie play three mates who have celebrated Christmas together ever since high school– with tacky annual traditions and all – but are now heading in different directions. These genuinely hilarious actors throw everything but the kitchen sink at the screen in an effort to lift the otherwise lacklustre material, yet witnessing their effortless chemistry only underscores how much of a wasted opportunity this movie really is. As one of four scribes and the sole director, Jonathan Levine has to shoulder a large portion of the blame. There are jokes that fall so flat it's curious as to how Levine let them slide, both before and during production. The tone is also extremely wonky, veering from crude humour to mawkish sentimentality with the flip of a switch. These sudden mood changes muddy the aim of the film entirely and result in lengthy periods of corny emotion. Oh, and watching Rogen high on drugs has already worn exceptionally thin, so whoever decided it would be a good idea to have him strung out on mushrooms and cocaine for the whole movie should be banned from Hollywood. A nearly completely laugh-free affair (save for an amusing cameo late in the piece), The Night Before squanders its potential and ensures its place alongside any number of Vince Vaughn-led Yuletide yarns.

44 out of 91 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

This is one the worst pieces of so-called 'movie' I have ever seen. I put is in the same category as 'Flesh Gordon',' only with panties still on. This is the kind of film that ends, or should end, careers. The beginning narrative and first scene, the funeral scene, are promising..that's it. No redeeming qualities after that. Although, growing up Jewish in Los Angeles, I did understand the Chinese restaurant humor (bunch or Orthodox Jewish guys eating Chinese on Christmas Eve). We had a couple of those types of places we used to go when I was a kid..one was called Wan Q..they asked if you were Joosh when you walked in the door. Anyone saying yes got a menu with no pork dishes, but I digress. Next, the drug thing was idiotic. Having lived through the 70's, I understand what effect all those things have on a person..the movie's depiction was terrible: Unrealistic, bordering on asinine. I can't say anything after the 'let's have sex with our panties on in the bathroom' scene, which followed, because I left. It was that bad..I walked out. Don't go see this crap. It isn't funny. The acting is terrible. The writing and plot line are worse. One of the worst movies I have seen in my life.

38 out of 79 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Another hilariously funny Seth Rogan film. I love all the movies this guy makes. This one was special and funny in its own way, but still filled with the classic adult and drug oriented humor that Seth is known for.
The movie is filled with great cameos and a great cast all around, but even Miley Cyrus is in this film and while I don't ever listen to her music and have never seen her perform, I have to say she did a brief acting job that was excellent and really added to the fun of the movie. I hope to see her in more movies in the future, because I loved the part they gave her in this movie. But also there were some other great comedian cameos that you are probably used to seeing in other Rogan movies.
But it's more than that. It's also a heartwarming movie that has some sentimental story telling that just might make you a little misty eyed. Its a great story about three life long friends really growing up in their own ways.
This is the first time this year I have finally felt the Christmas spirit and I loved it. 10 out of 10 comedy. Thank you to the entire writing cast that is involved with these Rogan movies because you guys don't disappoint, and if anything, this is probably one of his best movies to date.

42 out of 89 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Horrible script, flat performances, directionless direction. I sat through this entire travesty because, well, sometimes you want to know what all the fuss with 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' was about. This movie has everything: Actors standing in place reciting meaningless, unfunny dialogue. A camera that occasionally and for no reason repeatedly encircles the three leads. Every 'shock' cliché that's been in far better efforts of the last 20 years. In fact, it's not that this is a movie that will make you hate movies, it very likely will make you hate life. Highly recommended (to my enemies). Everyone else, skip this one; you'll be happier on your death bed.

54 out of 118 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

My wife and I go to all types of movies, from independent films like Far From the Madding Crowd (good) to films like Trainwreck (excellent), Spectre (only average), to low brow movies like Horrible Bosses (excellent) and We're The Millers (very good). They all look like masterpieces when compared to The Night Before.
There is no real plot here, just three guys trying to enjoy a night out (Christmas Eve) on the town. I like Seth Rogen but he is awful here. There are several gross out scenes for cheap laughs (I may have laughed twice in the whole movie), and a supporting cast that is completely wasted. Lizzy Caplan who is so fabulous in Masters of Sex is completely misused here (must have needed a new patio).
I assumed that with a Metecritic score of 58 and the Washington Post reviewer giving it 2.5 stars the movie wouldn't be horrible, and even if it had no redeeming value it would be good for a number of laughs. I was so wrong.
I'm temped to go see the other new Christmas movie, Love the Coopers, which has a Metacritic score of 29. Could it really be worse than this movie?
Don't waste your time on this movie (time you'll never get back). Go see Brooklyn (good) or Spotlight (very good) or The Intern (excellent). They are all time well spent.

45 out of 99 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

A real piece of crap. When you step into crap do you laugh? No! And that is what you step into if you watch this piece of crap movie. So scrape this one off your list.
Here's the lameacide plot - three half-wits get together every xmas eve to 'party' and seek the ultimate xmas eve party the Nutkrackers Balls party! After years of failed attempts this elusive party falls into their hands. Then they have to get there! Sounds like fun doesn't it? It's not.
To enjoy this sorry hot mess you have to have taken every hallucinogenic pill, eaten every mushroom, and smoked all the weed the Seth Rogen character 'Isaac' consumes throughout this entire movie. He's not funny! Joseph Gordon-Levitt in his elf costume isn't funny, and Anthony Mackie isn't funny (I never did understand the needle in his butt thing). Their adventure is lame, dialog forced, and the James Franco dick pics joke was just juvenile at best.
Fair warning --- this crappy movie looks like fun on the ad - and that's the only place it's fun.

35 out of 75 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Another garbage man-boy comedy about an adult in his thirties who finally decides to grow up (to get a girl, naturally). He's got two friends who have seemingly already grown up but, of course, we'll see they really haven't. You can check off most of the expected clichés that you find in these movies, particularly the ones that Seth Rogen is involved in. There's the couple expecting a baby and, of course, there's nothing remotely happy about that. Because in these things parents and those about to become parents just hate their kids and are filled with resentment and loathing towards them because they're nothing but burdens that keep the parents from partying it up and having 'fun.' There's also an inordinate amount of time spent on the tired joke of the guy who doesn't normally do drugs suddenly doing a lot of drugs. It's sad that Mr. Rogen and his comedy writing buddies seem to think we still live in the 1970s. This isn't some moral issue for me, railing against drug depictions in films or something. It's just so passé at this point. Does anybody still find it provocative, let alone funny? Some fresh material is all I'm asking for. Anyway, the movie also peddles in more recent (but equally tired) clichés, such as the fascination recent comedies have with showing penises for cheap laughs. Oh, and the cast has no chemistry. I did not buy for one second that these three men would be friends. It's just such a POS movie. I'm going to give it a 3 for Michael Shannon's small part but I wouldn't recommend anyone watching it.

28 out of 59 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Every Christmas Eve for the last decade, best friends Isaac, Ethan, and Chris have reunited for a wild night on the town in New York City.
But since getting older and having to face new responsibilities, their tradition is about to come to an end.
As a result, they plan one last epic night together, which includes finding their way to a legendary party called the Nutcracka Ball...
Goldberg and Rogen must be going down the same route as Garry Marshall with his seasonal big cast story. Take an important date, Christmas, and interview, or the end of the world, add a plethora of star cameos, get Rogen into some drug induced paranoid state, and you have instant comedy....just add spite.
And here it's no different. We get our three 'heroes' dawdle through the New York streets on one of the most important days to be with your family, trying to deny the fact that they are getting old, and need to calm the partying down a little.
And when you think about it, the three are literal heroes in a sense. Any film starring Robin, Falcon, and The Green Hornet, should spark a little interest. But no, it's just another excuse to make a film about how much money they can get from the studio to make another comedy, because the writer and the stars are not afraid of a little controversy.
Oh, and they also use the Colombia sign from the early eighties, so not only are they slightly controversial in a cheeky way, they are also meta!!! Win win!!.
No.
This stuff is starting to become really tiring, and it really irks me when Rogen is so good in something like Steve Jobs, and then just runs back to his safety net with this sort of unfunny tosh.
So he's the obligatory goofball in the film, getting high and then getting paranoid, Levitt playing the desperate romantic, and Mackie, looking for a Civil War poster somewhere subliminally in the film.
And then there's a weird cameo from General Zod himself, as some sort of Christ/Santa/Jacob Marley type character giving each of the three some sort of message about life lessons.
And then there's the obligatory cameo from James Franco.
Leave it. There's no Christmas spirit in this filth.
Desperately unfunny, and quite miserable.

25 out of 52 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

This was undoubtedly the worst movie I've ever seen. Some of the early reviews on IMDb lead me to go see it. Don't waste your money like I did. Not only did we NOT laugh even once, no one in the theater laughed. We walked out after 45 minutes, and we weren't alone. I'm not too picky and don't mind dumb humor. This didn't rise to that level. For anyone to say this is an 'instant classic' and imply there will be those who watch it year after year- IMHO these people must be a fraud and only hyping the movie for someone else's good. For a spouse to buy a father every drug, is so far fetched, unless they hate their spouse and have bought a huge life insurance policy. We were looking for something light and funny. We didn't find that in this one.

27 out of 57 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

In all respects, I think this was a really dumb and awful movie. However, the very least a movie can do for the viewing audience is be honest about the themes and hopefully how nasty it is during the preview for the movie. In my honest opinion, I think the movie trailer could not possibly have been more misleading of the sick content in this movie and it was definitely much, much nastier than any Hangover film for sex scenes, nudity, language, drugs, and the awful plot outline. So, I think many film ticket purchases are actually going to be refunded right at the move theaters because it would probably make some viewers cry for how sick this movie is based on the movie trailer as being a comedy. It's like the movie trailer should have been edited to include the many, many horrific moments in the film to make sure that ticket purchasers would understand they were actually going to see a movie that is really in my opinion close to the rating NC-17 and really in my opinion, in stark contrast to the trailers, the NC-17 version of the movie, 'Pineapple Express,' but with much more drugs, sex, nudity, and what many people just openly call filth in script writing. So parents please be warned that although it may be perfectly fine to show your children as many R rated movies as you would like and I agree they could see many, many R-Rated films, I think if I decided to not let my child see one R-Rated movie in addition to Schindler's List this one would definitely be the other one on that list. I cannot express how disgusting and foul and sick this movie was, but that would be the terms. And it's absolutely grotesque that many parents would indeed take their children to see the movie and feel too guilty to take them out of the movie. It's like the most ridiculous music tour in the whole world all ways possible for how unsuspecting families would be about the content of the movie based on the movie trailers advertising just about none of the filth, and the whole movie was just that. I don't really have any children, but I am sure this movie will really be the trumpet of peer pressure in the next decade for holiday film watching.
Other than that disclosure, I can also say that I openly don't see nasty movies like the Hangover in the theater and wait until they come out in the DVD's so for me the movie was not worth the ticket price for that. However, I did enjoy seeing the Pineapple Express so I did not really think it would have more filth than that movie but it was just a garbage bin of horrors. I think the movie was not funny in the least. I think the movie was as bad as wishing I had just gone to absolutely any other movie in the past month that has been released instead. For me, it was like watching something like a horror film where it just got so nasty I could not really look away and that's why I even sat through the whole movie without walking out at all. I am a huge fan of movies and cinema, and this movie was just a huge bomb in every way possible. I wish I had paid twice as much for a ticket to a haunted house is all I can say for the entire film. It was like taking a frat house, mixing it with an NC-17 movie, taking the dumbest actors you could find, and then calling it a Christmas comedy special to the unknowing public and expecting them not to feel bad that all they saw was the shady side of drug culture and borderline beyond soft porn. I also don't write many reviews of movies I hated seeing, and this was one of the absolutely most worthwhile reviews I ever will write for sick movies I accidentally see because it really was the worst case of a movie trailer showing nothing of how nasty the film not only becomes but just is throughout the entire movie. I think if you are in any way offended by the drug culture of many human beings ignorant that there is a huge stipulation in society that you can only do drugs if you have the money to stay out of jail if you are caught, because many human beings are serving some of the longest prison sentences on the planet that is well worth researching for even minor offenses of weed let alone the other drugs in the movie, because they did not have the money to defend themselves in court, I hope you don't see this disgusting movie.I also have to add that I indeed am not at all offended by any religious parody at all and that has nothing to do with what is very offensive in this movie. I am not even against letting human beings have drug experiments if they are taking it for the right reasons and hopefully in countries that have legalized standard dosages so you don't get ill from bad drugs, it's just the way that the human beings are doing drugs in this movie is just beyond any description possible of sick and really stupid. How about if this is supposed to be so great and funny, why don't they make a cute Christmas movie about girls having fun barfing for their drugs, fashion, bodies, or just mental illness?

45 out of 102 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

This movie ranks at the very top of my list of all time stinkers. It's supposed to be a Christmas comedy but is mostly about indiscriminately taking drugs leading to sweating and bleeding out your nose into someone's drink. If that is supposed to be funny then I'm missing something. The whole movie is geared to the mental midget crowd that only find things funny when their excessively gross, slapstick, and something a two year old would do. Sorry folks Seth Rogan is not a funny person. Stupid is not funny. I usually don't put spoilers in my reviews but this movie moves me to do so. With so many people dying of accidental overdoses due to taking drugs without knowing what's in them I just don't see the point in a big star like Rogan turning it into a comedy and a Christmas one at that. Some lame brain may argue this was a buddy movie but it was just too stupid to be anything but absolute crap. And speaking of crap, given a choice of a free DVD of this movie or a bag of Doggy doo I'd take the Doggy doo and thank you.

19 out of 38 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

First of all I would like to say that I am very big fan of slacker/stoner genres. After Kevin Smith and others stopped with new movies/comedies and there was no sign of new Harold & Kumar, I was glad to see Cera, Rogen, Jonah Hill and others in Superbad. I consider it to be new generation that will put on good new movies, and they did for most of the time. Seth Rogen had most comedies, but with every new they are more dumber, weaker, and look like basically something written and made in one night by few guys dumbed down by too powerful weed, money/fame, cocaine! The jokes are worst than ever, I don't think most of it can be qualified as joke. Conversations, ideas and everything else is basically just to fill paper. Also I can see how movie can be extremely insulting for Christians, there are few scenes that don't even sit well with me. So to sum it down, totally unnecessary bashing of everything holy to Christians, it almost look like it is some personal hate, envy going on. Scenes like that seem to be funny only to some mindless haters! Few shy laughs! Few stupid gay jokes, heavy drug abuse, nothing good worth mentioning. I can only see it likable to some brainwashed low IQ audience, or if Your weed is so bad that your IQ went under 85 and your are half way to deep sleep.

23 out of 49 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

I saw this movie on a Sunday afternoon and I was happy to choose that film. It's a Christmas comedy that sounds like a film with all the cliché. But no ! Instead it turn out to be a very original Christmas over the top comedy film with three buddies who reunite during that time of the year to have fun, party and do all the funny thing during Christmas, new year's eve time.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie star in this film and it must be a first to me, i did not hate any of them. Levitt laugh of himself in the very first seconds as an elf in an hotel and he really got it. Seth Rogen maybe at his best in a while, because yeah he is the stoner but also at the edge of a new life.. a daddy. But the funniest thing is that his wife give him a gift (and it's full drugs) haha. HE looks and act like he really did eat, smoke, etc. theses things.
Anthony Mackie is good as usual but he may be the underrated one here as he really show his comedic skills without being too cocky even if his character his, he stay the most human most of the time.
BUT, what really impress me in that movie is thoses two things..
1- Michael Shannon, i thought it was a cameo but he end being in the film at least 25 minutes and stole every line of the film.
2- Kanye West song at the beginning in that toy store, imagine the movie BIG with Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia scene, it's that scene but with our three main characters, it really give a good tone to the film, awesome song !
Also, it's a huge homage to the Home Alone films. Which is something i really enjoy because it is made in a funny and not to overshadow the 1990 5 star classic film starring Joe Pesci, John Heard, Catherine O'Hara, Daniel Stern and Macaulay Culkin.

29 out of 65 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Seth Rogen has developed a reputation for dishing out decent comedies. I essentially saw this movie because of Seth Rogen and his pedigree. I agree, as an Indian, I'm not supposed to enjoy all the cultural jokes. For example, I don't know the pop-significance of Miley Cyrus in US or the humour value of 'Hanna' associated with her name. But leaving these apart, I found the humour to be either banal or straightaway foolish.
I didn't even have one good laugh in this film. Puking in a church, images of male genitalia, half-baked cameo of James Franco, statements about male and female private parts, nosebleed in a drink, cussing a baby, drugs, having sex with a girls' parents - this pretty much sums up the cumulative humour in the film. There was not a single act of decent situational humour. And I'm surprised how so many critics glossed over this banality and showered it with high ratings. I think, money of the production house did the magic via publicity. A cheeky trailer also did the trick.
I wasted my 2 hours on this goofy, witless film. It is highly over- rated and straightaway rotten.

19 out of 40 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Aside from a few gut laughs here and there, I only found the movie entertaining. Sure, there was some surprisingly decent chemistry between the main leads, but the flaws outweighed the qualities of the movie.
For one, the movie mistook comedy for sheer vulgarity. While I will admit to having laughed now and then, most jokes fell flat, and others just flat out weren't funny. I'm all for dark and crude humor, but it can't be 'in your face all the time.' The movie was almost devoid of wit, although Rogen and others added some much needed wit into the movie.
The plot was very messy, and it really didn't tie together until the end. I'd expand on this point, but there's no need to belabor the fact, the plot just didn't work.
However, as I said, I'll admit to having laughed here and there, and to have being entertained every now and then. For that reason, I can't outright pan the movie.

21 out of 46 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Winter is the season audiences are forced to unwrap gifts of the latest Holiday- themed movie offerings. The taped wrapping paper – festive and jolly in it's presentation – causes the viewer to squint from the boisterous colors, like nursing a terrible hangover from downing an excessive amount of eggnog the night before. The films are usually lackluster efforts, forcing the message of 'joy to the world' down the consumers throat like a stale and unwanted candy cane left over from a Christmas past.
Watching 'The Night Before' – the latest offering from talented director Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies, 50/50) – is like Santa fulfilling all your wants on a Christmas list, despite being very naughty all year.
Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star as three friends – a comedic parallel of the biblical three wise men – whom reunite each Christmas Eve to stage various shenanigans. After Ethan's (Levitt) parents tragically pass away, Isaac (Rogen) and Chris (Mackie) step in to assume the mother and father role for the wayward youth. Several years later, the trio receive lumps of coal in their stockings in the form of adulthood – Isaac is an expecting father; Chris is a social media famous football player, juicing up to stay relevant; Ethan is a retailer belittled in an elf costume, unable to let go of his morbid past.
The shifts of maturity have made them distant from one another; with their lives moving in different directions, they decide this Xmas reunion will be their last together. Mischief abounds when Ethan discovers tickets for the 'Nutcracker Ball' in a patrons clothing at a coat check- a fabled party that the boys have sought to attend since they originally started the tradition.
Rogan steals the show. When Isaac's wife slips him a hodgepodge of various illegal substances as reward for being a devoted husband, Rogan displays each violent hallucination with hilarious intensity.
There are plenty of 'Ho Ho Hos' to go around, and the sleigh-loads of laughs lasts the entire movie – a rarity in comedies when the third act is usually a reprieve for various characters to have epiphanies and change their lives.
'The Night Before' is destined to be a Christmas cult classic akin to 'Bad Santa'.

27 out of 62 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

. . . is akin to a film studio deciding to make a slap-stick comedy by blending the key elements of SCHINDLER'S LIST and JESVS CHR!ST, SUPERSTAR. So Ho Ho Ho, THE NIGHT BEFORE begins with a terrorist bombing in Manhattan, New York City, as a municipal snowman is blown up. Even if this Grinch-like Act of Vandalism did NOT maim the U.S. kids found cheek-by-jowl with any snowman, Sony's 'humor' gets blacker with each passing minute. A Jew wearing a giant Star of David barfs hysterically in the center aisle of a packed Cathedral's Christmas Eve Mass during the Holiest Prayer. Immediately after that this same character stages a Mock Crucifixion at a party designed to cheapen both America's GREAT GATSBY Dream and sweetheart HANNAH MONTANA as the drug-addled Dad-to-Be pictures his fetus as a teenage stripper, a feat which 'earns' wings for Satan's Angel Clarence--pot dealer 'Mr. Green' here--in a sick twist on IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. In Sony's Amerika, people bleed into other folks' drinks and barf into the communal serving bowls of Yule-Tide food. In Sony's Amerika, doctors and elementary school teachers dress up in Santa Suits and defecate on crowded city sidewalks Xmas Eve. In Sony's Amerika, our top NFL sports heroes are so continually high on recreational drugs that they nearly forget to shoot up with their performance-enhancing contraband. In Sony's Amerika, gaggles of young women giggle uncontrollably in the back rows of movie theaters each and every time a 'Sexted' full-color graphically-clear close-up photo of a circumcised erection lingers on the Big Screen, 20-feet high. THE NIGHT BEFORE is a cornucopia of anti-Americanism that no other nation would tolerate. Polls show Americans now feel much poorer, more unsettled, and nearer to national disaster than they did PRIOR to Sony Corp. snatching up Columbia Pictures and a conglomerate of our other national movie studios with the express purpose of sowing the seeds of our destruction. The time to push back is NOW, America--soon it will be TOO LATE!! Merry Christmas.

27 out of 68 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Amongst a busy year of blockbusters and dramas there have been very few good comedies that have made me laugh out loud, when i found out about a Christmas movie starring Seth Rogen, one of my all time favourites paired up with Joseph Gordon-Levit and Anthony Mackie. well i thought, comedy of the year right? I didn't think wrong, The Night Before is hilarious and among that i will be making it a new Christmas tradition as it also tells a very touching story about friendship and the meaning of Christmas.
The story follows Ethan, played by JGL, who's parents died around Christmas time. His two best friends, Issac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) make it a tradition to hang out every year. But as a result of them moving on with their lives that tradition will be coming to an end, with the biggest party in town 'The Nutcracker Ball'. What was arguably most important with these characters was the fact that they had to have great chemistry, which they do. All 3 of the main characters are played very well and are all different. The film sort of sets itself up to be one that deals with the troubles that Ethan has to overcome when realising his friends have grown up. Whilst it does do this, the other characters both have to overcome troubles of their own which was interesting to see.
Among the madcap humour, like the fact that most of the movie deals with Seth Rogen on every drug you can imagine, the message we ultimately take from the film is such a good message and done surprisingly well. Also, i heard huge buzz coming from Michael Shannon's role, and yes he steals this movie and makes all of his scenes so damn funny that you always look forward to seeing him on screen and some other great cameos really round it out to be a brilliant time. This is a film i could get on board with and watch every Christmas and im sure many others would too
A new Christmas tradition for sure and i highly recommend you see it before Star Wars completely dominates the box office.

15 out of 35 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Although I was raised Jewish, I've always had a soft spot for Christmas and the holiday season. I love the lights, the spirit, the music, and most of all, the movies. I'm happy to say that The Night Before will be added to my list of 'must watch holiday movies.'
The premise is simple. Ten years ago, three friends (Ethan, Isaac, and Chris) made a pact to spend every Christmas together after Ethan tragically loses his parents on Christmas eve. This year, they are breaking the tradition and it will be their last year celebrating together. Isaac is having a baby, and Chris has become a famous football star, while Ethan is stuck, having trouble moving on with his life. Ethan comes across 3 tickets to the famous and exclusive Nutcracker Ball Party and the three friends set out on a night of, drinking, drugs and crazy scenarios.
Let me just say off the bat that this movie is very funny. It hardly ever stops being funny. Even in the (few) sentimental parts, its still funny. The three lead actors work well and have great chemistry. The adventures and characters they come across are interesting and fresh without being annoying or out of place. Sometimes a holiday themed comedy can have trouble choosing a tone (example: Scrooged). But The Night Before stays on track. Of course with a Seth Rogan movie you can expect cameos, and this film delivers. I won't spoil any of these, but they are wonderful treats sprinkled throughout the movie (especially Mr. Green). There are also numerous, and hilarious references to classic Christmas movies.
I did feel like there was a bit of a lull in between the second and third act, but the film quickly picks back up. Also, the Nut Cracker Ball didn't come across as epic as the movie make it out to be, but it doesn't really matter. A movie like this is about the journey more than the destination. As for the ending, its pretty generic. But thats OK. A Christmas movie should have a happy ending to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside and this one does the job in traditional fashion.
I had a blast watching The Night Before. It's fun, relevant, hilarious, with a dash of heart. Rarely does a holiday movie become an instant classic, but I have a feeling this comedy has what it takes to become a yearly tradition.

21 out of 53 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink