Today: Mar 19, 2024

Movie Review: “The Night Before” creates good laughs for this holiday season

Philip Zoppi – General Assignment Reporter

“The Night Before” delivered one of the most hilarious Christmas movies in a long time.

Ironically, the beginning of the movie started off in a somewhat sad state. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the three main characters in the movie, lost his parents in high school.

After Levitt lost his parents, Seth Rogan and Anthony Mackie, the two other main characters and Levitt’s best friends in the movie, decided to make a tradition out of going out on Christmas Eve together as their own little family.

This tradition lasted well after high school ended, but times always change. Rogan and Mackie are moving along in their lives and Levitt is finding himself left behind. But that’s not what this movie is all about.

This was Rogan’s and Levitt’s second movie together. The other one they both starred in was called “50/50” which had a kind of similar plot to “The Night Before.”

From beginning to end this movie will have the theatre cracking up. Rogan was the driving force behind the comedy in the movie. Scene after scene, Rogan filled the theatre with laughter. It’s safe to say without Rogan this movie wouldn’t have been nearly as successful.

Rogan’s right hand man in the “Pineapple Express” and “The Interview,” James Franco, even made an appearance late in the movie. Franco’s role topped off what was already a great movie with great acting. According to USA Today, “Why James Franco’s hilarious ‘Night Before’ cameo was almost cut,” by Patrick Ryan,  though, the screenwriters wanted nothing to do with Franco’s role in the movie originally.

Rogan wanted Franco in the movie because he thinks people love to see them together in movies. In Ryan’s USA Today article, Rogan said, “”It’s funny. When we screened it for our friends who are in the movie industry, they really did not like that part of the movie and they were like, ‘It’s expected. It’s stupid. It takes us out of it.’”

Franco and Rogan are a great team and know how to make unforgettable scenes together. They did that once again in “The Night Before.”

One of the other main characters in the movie, Michael Shannon, known for his roles in “Boardwalk Empire” and “Man of Steel,” played the role of a drug dealer.

Shannon wasn’t like Rogan in the way he produces laughter from an audience but his acting was superb and fit the role of a drug dealer perfectly.

To top all of the great acting in the movie, “The Night Before” even had Miley Cyrus make an appearance. In the movie she sang her classic song “Wrecking Ball.” Cyrus is well known for her acting and has been doing it her entire life. She played a funny and vital role in this film.

The screenwriters for this movie just understood what makes a funny Christmas movie and got the actors to make it happen. They also didn’t make it too long as the movie only lasted one hour and 41 minutes.

“The Night Before” was also received well by the public as it brought in $10,100,00 in just it’s opening weekend.

This movie had a lot of heart and was funny. A Christmas story was told with laughter throughout the movie.

If you’re looking for a good laugh this holiday season then “The Night Before” is a movie for you.

Photo Credit: Boris Reztsov

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