About Last Night

About Last Night

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Hollywood time-travels to the ’80s and pulls out three titles with the aid of its remake machine, a Hot Tub Time Machine. “Endless Love,” “RoboCop” and best of the batch “About Last Night” are all competing for your patronage this weekend, whether you’re on a date or flying solo.

The former two surrender their original R-ratings for the absurdity of the PG-13; “About Last Night” gives up its predecessor’s ellipsis but thankfully retains every bit of salty mouth and sexual shenanigans that mark it as an adaptation of David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity In Chicago.”

Screenwriter Leslye Headland (“Bachelorette”) leans more on Tim Kazurinsky and Denise DeClue’s 1986 screenplay adaptation than Mamet’s play, which could upset fans of one or both works. Fans of paint-peeling levels of cussing should still find much to enjoy here.

Headland moves some things around geographically: The sexual perversity has been shifted to Los Angeles’ Broadway Club where Bernie (Kevin Hart) and Danny (Michael Ealy), everyone within earshot knowing full well their lives would be immeasurably improved if they got over themselves just long enough to make out already, are discussing Bernie’s most recent hook-up in graphic detail. Intercut with their conversation is Joan’s take on the same event, delivered by her roommate Debby (Joy Bryant).

Through clever editing, Bernie and Joan will finish each other’s sentences and shockingly so do the details. Both complain about Bernie’s “whiskey,” both celebrate Joan having cured it. This opening sequence presents all characters on equal ground; what women have to say is equally important and dirty as what men have to say.

Since Danny has been sulking over a breakup with Angela (Paula Patton, wasted yet AGAIN), Bernie asks Joan to bring Debby as a double date opportunity. Danny and Debby exchange polite pleasantries while Bernie and Joan get plastered on hard liquor and retreat to the bathroom for the first of “About Last Night”’s many acts of sexual slapstick. “This is the worst date I’ve ever been on,” says Danny, “and it’s not even my date!”

Things start looking up for Danny when after she takes his hand in an attempt to make an ex-boyfriend jealous he calls Debby on her bulls. “I’ll be your fake boyfriend,” he tells her, “but I would have done it differently.” So begins a sexy back-and-forth that eventually lands these two in bed.

As Bernie congratulates Danny (“How did you know?” asks Danny. “She’s Joan’s roommate!” Bernie replies.), Joan gets the 411 from Debby. “I can’t believe I slept with him on the first date,” Debby says, but it doesn’t sound like a lament at all.

One of the movie’s most refreshing aspects is how it acknowledges, without shame or even much comment because why should anyone have anything to say about this anyway? That women love to have (and gossip about) sex just as much if not more than men do.

Joan remains non-judgmental until Danny and Debby become an item; then she and Bernie step in as devil’s advocates with ulterior motives. The more time they spend together, the less time they have for their friends, you know how this goes.

“About Last Night” becomes a tale of two romantic couples: One trying to navigate the normal slings and arrows of a relationship; the other doing their damndest to be antagonistic in order to hide their true feelings. This plays out over a year, with title cards denoting the changes of season.

At times, the quartet are each other’s worst enemies, at others, they’re each other’s pillars of support. Bernie and Joan both want things to go awry for their friends, but when they do, they’re genuinely comforting toward their respective buddies. This psychological dependency is only hinted at; the film fears this darker path. It prefers to stare at it from afar rather than explore it, resulting in a missed opportunity to be heftier and more original than most romantic comedies.

The film’s best asset, and the thing that elevates it above the 1986 version, is how well it is cast. Jim Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins were perfect as Bernie and Joan, but Rob Lowe and Demi Moore were dull as Danny and Debby. Here, Ealy and Bryant use chemistry and good acting to keep us interested when the flashier Hart and Hall are offscreen. They have bigger narrative hurdles to clear, and somehow manage to emerge unscathed when “About Last Night” stoops to the usual tired romantic comedy third act clichés.

Bernie put Jim Belushi on the map, and one can see Hart’s star rising even higher with his portrayal. After “Grudge Match” and “Ride Along”, I feared Hart was turning into a low-rent Chris Tucker. But he’s fantastic here, coming into his own as a leading man. Hart’s stand-up relies on a lot of self-deprecation, but some of his funniest moments onstage are when he’s just being mean and confessing his sins. Bernie affords him plenty of hilarious opportunities to vent his anger, and Hall is a great foil who gives as good as she gets. Hart’s explanation of the exact dynamics of his relationship with Hall is a small piece of confessional magic.

Despite all the raunchy sex in “About Last Night” (one scene would send Colonel Sanders and Frank Perdue running for the exits), this is still a very talky movie. Much of the dialogue is very funny and revealing, but director Steve Pink is more concerned with exploring the relationships than accelerating the narrative pace. There’s time to meditate on one’s own relationships as they relate to the protagonists’ trials and tribulations. This is a fine date movie, but depending on the status of your relationship, it may also be a dangerous date movie. Post-movie discussions are imminent amongst couples.

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