Incidentally, the quote Cami is talking about came from an interview Tina Fey did with Esquire Magazine. But I guess she was on Oprah earlier this week with Steve Carell, too, and repeated it there.
I guess I just like the idea of Cami sitting around reading Esquire, for some reason.
For those of you that think I’m making up that story about a Korean man marrying a body pillow, that actually happened and it seems to be somewhat of an emerging trend in Eastern cultures. 2D Love, is what they’re starting to call it. Men falling in love with anime characters beyond what’s appropriate or… normal.
Interestingly enough, the phenomenon was referenced recently on an episode of 30 Rock where James Franco tried to arrange a shame marriage with Jane Krakowski’s character Jenna to keep the press from learning about his infatuation with a Japanese body pillow.
I mention that, I guess, because it also involves Tina Fey. I feel like I’m playing Six Degrees of Separation with body pillows, or something.
Back to the matter at hand, let’s talk about Date Night for a little bit. Certainly the film looks great on paper. Tina Fey and Steve Carell in the same movie? It would seem like they would have a very compatible sense of humor and a natural chemistry and I think that’s what Fox is counting on when (or if) you buy a ticket this weekend.
But if you scratch the surface, there is cause for concern. The first red flag is that it was directed by Shawn Levy who is one of the worst paycheck directors currently in Hollywood. He is to comedy what Chris Columbus is to children’s movies. Everything about Levy’s approach takes things that are otherwise funny and squeezes the life out of them. His work is safe and predictable and you only have to look at his directing credits for the proof. Just Married, Cheaper By The Dozen, the remake of The Pink Panther and BOTH Night at the Museum movies.
The second red flag is the script written by Josh Klausner – whose IMDB profile does not inspire confidence. Klausner only has 4 writing credits to his name and TWO of them are Shrek movies.
In other words, proceed with caution.
Fey and Carell have been all over the place doing press for Date Night. It seems either one or both of them have been on television every night this week. While that’s good for television – since they’re both always fun to watch in an interview context – it doesn’t exactly communicate quality in Date Night. They’re basically promoting the heck out of it now to drum up interest because (I’m willing to be) word of mouth won’t be very good afterwords. I hate to be a pessimist, but I’ve seen these kind of maneuvers before.
What do you guys think? Have I unfairly passed judgment on Date Night? Do you still want to see it? Leave your comments along with your thoughts and reflections about Japanese body pillows below!
"The Thinking Man's 'Whatever' -- there's no such thing," she said. "The thinking man also wants to make love to Megan Fox."
Well, I'm sure it does Tina Fey's ego good to indirectly compare herself to Megan Fox...
..but when guys are marrying body pillows in Korea, it's evident that some men aren't all that picky.
Hey Tom, I’m not sure you should be making fun of people marrying body pillows or falling in love with anime characters considering you’d probably do the same thing to Iron Man if you weren’t already engaged… don’t lie! 😉
And about Date Night, Ebert gave it 3 stars and said that he really enjoyed it. That’s good enough for me!
Not sire if this is relevant or not, but I found it related to that “2D Love” thing or whatever:
I don’t know. I mean, it has been getting decent reviews and has a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. Then again, it looks like a “wait for cable” or airplane movie at best. And considering I’m a big fan of Steve Carell, that’s saying a lot.
@Stefan, I really don’t see how you can be a big fan of someone and then not get excited when a movie with that person comes out, especially one that is getting great reviews. Maybe you’re as big a fan of Carell as you think? 😉
Jeez man, way to poo poo on a part of my movie interests. I enjoyed both Night at the Museums and Cheaper by the Dozen. I’m really looking forward to Date Night. Tina Fey and Steve Carell are hilarious. Putting them together makes it even better. It does look like a cheesy comedy but when were those bad? I mean you saw Ninja Assassin, right? That’s just a cheesy action movie.
2D Love … that goes on the list of things I now wish I could un-learn about. Thanks a lot, Tom! :p
This film also has James Franco, Marky Mark, and Olivia Munn. What a totally random cast.
It’s also fresh on RT…yet I think this film looks terrible from trailers. And yet I will go see it. Well played Hollywood.
Gannett’s reviewer panned it mostly – saying that it was very uneven and only the skills of the actors saved it: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100408/ENT04/4080320/1063/UPDATE
I think it’s too risky to gamble 10 bucks for a movie ticket, but I will rent it eventually cause I love Tina Fey and Steve Carrell.
@Avi, I agree with you. I’ll save my $8.50 for Kick-Ass next week.
Date Night was a fun flick. Be sure to stick around for the outtakes during the closing credits. Fey slips in a zinger at the end that had everyone cracking up – too bad this wasn’t an R rated flick!
People have been marrying their body pillows – and video game dating girlfriends – in Korea for ages. This is also the country that has people dying because they don’t stop playing WoW to eat, sleep, or use the bathroom.
Talk about obsession.
@Trevor, some would call that dedication. I’m sure he mined more gold than anyone else too. Also I’m sure they let their bowels loose, just not in the bathroom.
@Tom, but Megan Fox’s thumbs are so weird she isn’t hot, it’s all I can see when she’s around.
I have every intention of seeing Date Night, if only because I have a girl-crush on Tina Fey.
Went, with my wife, last night to see “Date Night”, on date night (fortunately ours went better). We both enjoyed the movie. Yeah, it had some uneven moments, but we both enjoyed the chemistry between Fey and Carell. And the portrayal of a marriage in rut was pretty spot on. Sure, some of the stuff was over the top, but there wasn’t anything that happened that made you say, “Yeah right” (well, maybe the bit with the Kindle 2). All in all, it was a nice comedy with enough action for the husband to enjoy and enough romance/relationship stuff for the wife. But would somebody PLEASE get Mark Wahlberg a shirt!
Follow-up: Saw Date Night on Friday evening and really, really enjoyed it. There are some fantastic cameos, and I loved Tina Fey and Steve Carell together. Also, I love movies with gag reels, so the end was great.