'Date Night' offers laughs; 'Kick-Ass' brings R-rated fun

“Date Night”
Directed by: Shawn Levy
Starring: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg
Rated: PG-13

“Date Night” is in the niche of recent films like “The Bounty Hunter” and “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” – romantic comedies with action overtones.

Veteran television comedic actors Steve Carell and Tina Fey are the best thing about the movie.

The pair play Phil and Claire Foster, an overworked couple with two kids who find they are spending less time with and for each other.

Phil decides to do something about this. On a whim he hires a babysitter and tells Claire to get dressed up, because they're heading into Manhattan to one of the fanciest restaurants in town. The fact they don't have reservations doesn't deter him. It also sets off the basic plot of the film.

While waiting for a table, Phil notices that the maitre d' calls for the Tripplehorns a few times but no one comes forward. So he decides he and Claire will pretend to be the Tripplehorns and take their table.

Big mistake. The “real” Tripplehorns have something that belongs to a mob boss (Ray Liotta). Two cops on his payroll take it that Phil and Claire are the Tripplehorns, and the chase and mayhem begin.

Mark Wahlberg has a small role as a hunky security expert that Claire knows (and obviously really likes) who the Fosters ask for help.

The going gets goofy, and while not a great film, “Date Night” elicits some chuckles, and Carell and Fey make it better than it might have been.


“Kick-Ass”
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Rispoli, Nicolas Cage
Rated: R

The previews for “Kick-Ass” (despite the fact that some people may find the very title bordering on vulgar) led the viewer to believe it was going to be a cute film about kids who wanted to be superheroes. The trailers suggested a family friendly film that was probably rated PG and something the kids could enjoy.

I loved the movie, but I have to warn you: It's rated R for a reason. It's closer to Tarantio's “Kill Bill” films than a kids' movie. It's funny but very violent in many scenes and features more than a few vulgarities spewing from the mouths of children.

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a pretty typical adolescent male: uncomfortable in his own skin and going through the love pangs that afflict people of his age. He's also a comic book aficionado. Not a full fledged “geek,” but still ...

When normal teen life gets to be too much for him, he decides that he could become a masked crime fighter. Not really a “super” hero - he realizes he has no super powers - but more like a “Batman” type.

He fashions a fairly ridiculous costume, dubs himself “Kick-Ass” and sets out to fight crime.

Bad idea. On one of his first outings he is stabbed and badly beaten. But he survives and is resolved to carry on.

His character inspires other young people to don masks and capes and become altruistic vigilantes as well.

There's “Red Mist” – played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who was McLovin in “Superbad” – and “Hit Girl” (Chloë Grace Moretz), who is accompanied by her father, “Big Daddy,” played with the usual weirdness that Nicolas Cage brings to any role he takes on. In his “normal” life Big Daddy is the ultimate gun nut who has instilled all of his enthusiasm and paranoia in his young daughter.

These two, while not having as much screen time, are the most interesting (as well as disturbing and funny) characters in the film. I foresee a sequel with them as the main characters.

Some hubbub will surely be raised about Moretz's role. She was 11 at the time, swears like a sailor, blows people away with high powered handguns and takes an excruciating beating.

“Kick-Ass” is based on the comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. and is as much a parody of the superhero genre as it is an action movie or comedy.

It's definitely not for everybody, and it's well deserving of its R rating. But for those with a taste for this sort of thing (and I am one), it's a pretty good ride.