THE NIGHT BEFORE REVIEW!!!
- Matt Palmer
- Dec 11, 2023
- 3 min read
Initial release date: November 20, 2015
Studios: Sony-Columbia/LStar Capital/Good Universe/Point Grey Pictures
Tagline: Three wise men. One wild Christmas.
Plot: For the last ten years, lifelong buddies Ethan, Isaac and Chris have gathered on Christmas Eve to celebrate the holidays with a bang. As Isaac prepares to become a first time father, the friends realize that their annual tradition is coming to a sad end. To make it as memorable as possible, they plan a night of debauchery and hilarity by searching for the Nutcracka Ball, the Holy Grail of Christmas parties in NYC.
Cast
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Ethan
Seth Rogen - Isaac
Anthony Mackie - Chris
Jillian Bell - Betsy
Lizza Caplan - Diana
Helene Yorke - Cindy
Michael Shannon - Mr. Green
Mindy Kaling - Sarah
Illana Krazer - Rebecca Grinch
Aaron Hill - Tommy Owens
Tracy Morgan - Narrator
Writer(s): Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies; The Wackness)
Kyle Hunter (Sausage Party)
Ariel Schaffer (Sausage Party)
Evan Goldberg (TMNT: Mutant Mayhem)
Director: Jonathan levine (Long Shot; Snatched; Warm Bodies; 50/50)
Rated R for drug use and language throughout, some strong sexual content and graphic nudity (101 minutes)
Every time Seth Rogen stars and/or produces an R-rated comedy, they are generally really hysterical. Well, except for maybe one or two (the 2009 comedy Observe and Report wasn't that great). And, in 2015, Seth Rogen produced and co-starred in the R-rated Christmas comedy The Night Before.
This is one of the holiday movies that I watch at least a couple times during the season. There are quite a few moments that will really have you laughing. There's a sequence where Rogen's character begins to have a good/bad trip which leads to a lot of funny moments, which includes him talking to a nativity scene before a midnight mass (where he also runs into his fiance's family.
Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie and Joseph Gordon-Levitt work really well together and this was the second time that Levitt and Rogan starred in a movie together - the first being the movie 50/50 (highly recommended BTW). They definitely act like they have been friends for years and that really works when you see some of the dramatic moments.
There is one scene in the movie where it's Christmas Eve and Levitt's character just lost both his parents. You see Rogen and Mackie consoling their friend and make sure he is never alone for Christmas. That scene is probably the most emotion scene in the movie and their chemistry helps the scene majorly.
The Night Before is done showing at the 12 Movies of Christmas festival, but you can stream it through Tubi!!
Here are a few fun tidbits for the R-rated Christmas comedy!!
Director Jonathan Levine revealed on the website Collider that a lot of the movie's comedy was improvised, and the dramatic moments were per the written script, which he admitted was more like an outline guide.
There are many regerences to Die Hard, including a character who likes to imitate Hans Gruber, the music to Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and the charcters signing Run-DMCs "Christmas in Hollis" (which can be heard in the beginning during the credits of Die Hard).
This was Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon Levitt's second collaboration with director Jonthan Levine. The first was 50/50.
Principal photography began on August 11, 2014 in NYC, On January 5, 2015, filming took place in and around Rockefeller Center, where the crews were taking some shots of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
The Night Before grossed $43 million in North America and $9.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $52.4 million against a budget of $25 million.
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