Starring Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Regina Hall, Joy Bryant, Christopher McDonald, Adam Rodriguez, Joe Lo Truglio, Paula Patton
Directed by Steve Pink
Expectations: Moderate.
I don’t even know what to write about About Last Night. The film was very entertaining, and offered up just about everything you could want in a romantic comedy/drama. It’s also one of the few worthy remakes, spicing up the original enough to justify its existence as a separate film. Many of the story beats are the same, but the 1986 About Last Night wishes it was as funny as this new film. The sexually frank dialogue of the original is pushed to the wall in new and hilarious ways, and there’s a cluckin’ hilarious sex scene that you won’t soon forget (or if you do, you’ve explored the depths of the Internet far too long and too often).
About Last Night opens with Bernie (Kevin Hart) and Danny (Michael Ealy) walking down the street to the Broadway Bar. Bernie is describing his previous night’s sexual escapades with a girl he just met, Joan (Regina Hall). This scene crosscuts with Joan telling her friend Debbie (Joy Bryant) about her experience with Bernie. We don’t hear either side of the story completely, but as the audience we get the full picture by hearing both sides. This opening is a good microcosm of the movie overall, as even though Danny is the main character and the film is almost always from his perspective, there’s always a feeling that the audience is peering into these people’s lives in something of an objective way. We see the good, the bad and the steamy, for better or worse.