Succeeds only because of the charisma and talents of its leads. Inhabits a world and logic of its own. A fantasy/picaresque combination. Forget the basic plot - the dialogue and characters are what make this movie different. One scene that is hard to forget though is the punch-up with the Santa Clauses. This violent scene is shocking and spoils the spirit of the movie. Joseph Gordon- Levitt physically resembles the great Heath Ledger more and more. Best line: "Friends come and go but fans last forever."!

The movie is absolutely fine in almost all aspects. Easily the best thing about the movie is the friendship between Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie. They all have really good chemistry with each other. And Joseph Goron-Levitt has the best performance out of the whole movie. Although, I ould not recommend this movie.

If cinema in the 21st century has failed in any one regard, it's delivering new classic Christmas movies. Sure, there's a point to be made that great Christmas movies are older movies because they should evoke nostalgia, but nostalgia is relative. "The Night Before" won't be recognized as a new classic, but in the era of raunchier, R-rated Christmas films we somehow find ourselves in, at least it evokes the "spirit of Christmas" without falling all over itself.Like every great Christmas creation, "The Night Before" is of course made by Jews. Jonathan Levine, who previously brought Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen together to make the severely underrated cancer comedy "50/50," gets credited with the story and the screenplay (co-written with Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir and Evan Goldberg). The reason this makes sense is because only a Jewish person would have experience with Christmas Eve debauchery, seeing as everyone else is spending time with family.So it makes sense that the story follows a 30-something bachelor in Ethan (Gordon-Levitt) who loves Christmas but who lost his parents as a teenager and therefore has nowhere to go. His friends Isaac and Chris' (Rogen and Anthony Mackie) effort to spend time with him therefore morphed into a Christmas Eve tradition with a mix of activities from PG to Hard R. Only now, Isaac is about to be a dad and Chris is a star football player, so their tradition (and relationships) are at a crossroads. "The Night Before" is as much about sorting through the stark realities of being in one's thirties as it is about being a Christmas stoner comedy and that's where Levine excels. His films have always marketed as comedy but remain invested in actual human issues. And that's not saying that the script haphazardly throws in feel-good Christmas themes or wedges in other values; he actually commits screen time to those themes and values and they go deeper than the self-evident, surface level.All that being as it may, "The Night Before" cares foremost about its commitment to being a comedy. What separates it from other films that have attempted the same is the writing and the cast. Most of these "epic night out" movies force and fabricate the most outlandish comedic situations imaginable and end up losing sight of reality. And while Michael Shannon playing a weed dealer with abilities out of "A Christmas Carol" can't exactly claim to be in touch, a talent like Shannon understands exactly how to play that kind of scene to underscore the value of him being there aside from being a hilarious cameo.Another good example: all these movies have trippy drug scenes. The difference with "The Night Before" is that going nuts on drugs is written into Rogen's character. His pregnant wife gifts him a mystery box of substances as a pre-fatherhood "thank you" and the line between recreational use and trying to feel better about his underlying fears is the essence of his character arc. Him going crazy therefore isn't condensed into one wild situational comedy sequence. "The Night Before" could easily be reduced to a dumb Christmas-themed guys' night out stoner comedy, or it could be looked at more closely as a film about aging out of that stuff through the lens of Christmas spirit. It works on both those levels, and that's kind of a nice gift. If it had more originality to it, it would probably rise above its above-average comedy status into something more memorable, but in the crowd of Christmas movies that tried to do the same thing, it stands a bit taller.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

A couple of laughs, but the whole Christmas theme mashed up with a raunchy drug movie just didn't mesh all that well and came across as forced. The attempts at pathos were hackneyed and broad and the callbacks to much better holiday movies just hammered the point home that this is not destined to be a classic, or even remembered. The dick pic gag was great though.