Date Night (2010)
Tina Fey and Steve Carell ham it up in this rom com / blundering action flick which features a few easy laughs and an amusing cameo from a topless Mark Wahlberg. I liked Ray Liotta's turn as a mob boss (he seems to be maturing nicely into this role) and William Fichtner (the weaselly van Santz from "Heat" who was despatched so satisfyingly by Bobby De Niro) is always good for a laugh (although the pole-dancing scene near the end was way overdone and one of the films most cringeworthy moments). Both Fey and Carell are deservedly successful on the small screen (I'm a big fan of Fey's "30 Rock"); this effort demonstrates that this is no guarantee of success on the big screen.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
It looks like the runaway sucess of last year's "The Hangover" has got the Hollywood clone factory running in overdrive as a series of decreasingly funny "buddy flicks" roll off the conveyor belt. With this one, you can just imagine the cretinous Hollywood agents pitching it to their studio bosses: "it's like Hangover but with sort of a Back To The Future twist.. but, get this, instead of a Delorean, the time machine is a hot tub! And instead of starting in the eighties they're going TO the eighties!"
It's not a terrible film but the returns in this genre are diminishing rather rapidly and I hope the studios take the hint. One thing I did enjoy was Crispin Glover (George "I'm your density" McFly from the original Back To The Future) as the hapless bellhop destined to have his arm severed.
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