Blood Harmony Vol. 32: Underrated Holiday Movie Recommendation

Every year for the last five years about a week before Christmas, my husband and I pour some wine, wrap some presents and watch The Night Before. The Night Before was released in 2015 and stars Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie. It was directed by Jonthan Levine who also worked with Rogen and JGL on 50/50 (underrated cancer comedy-drama!). It’s the story of three childhood best friends who grew up in New York City and started a tradition of spending Christmas Eve together partying after JGL’s character, Ethan, lost his parents in a car accident while they were in college. The movie is set 14 years later and they are doing their Christmas Eve together for one last time. In addition, they have finally snagged tickets to this epic secret Christmas party they’ve always wanted to attend. Mackie’s character is a super successful NFL player, Rogen’s character is about to become a father and JGL’s character is stuck in perpetual arrested development. There are some very funny female characters in The Night Before played by Lizzie Caplan, Mindy Kaling, Gillian Bell (a standout as Rogen’s wife) and Ilana Glazer. And there are cameos galore (Miley Cyrus! Michael Shannon! Nathan Fielder! Jason Manzoukas! Randall Park!). My absolute favorite cameo in this movie is from James Franco who seems like a very bad person IRL but gets a hilarious bit here (if not somewhat on-the-nose).

The Night Before is hilarious, sometimes gross and definitely over-the-top. At its core though, it’s also a sweet movie about the evolution of friendships, toxic masculinity and what happens when holiday traditions no longer serve the participants. The dream Christmas Eve as envisioned by three college students involving pranks, drugs and karaoke is no longer what three adult men in their 30s necessarily want to spend their holidays doing (except for Ethan who can’t seem to move on). But the breaking of old traditions and the creation of new ones require us to have real conversations with loved ones about our values, desires and needs. And our heroes eventually get there (after a lot of drugs, some pranks, bathroom sex, a car crash and some impressive karaoke).

Line from this movie most often quoted in my house: It’s about this and only this! Nothing else!

Double Feature Suggestion: Hot Tub Time Machine (also about platonic love, the evolution of frienships, toxic masculinity and traditions).

Where to find: included with Amazon Prime, all other normal places.

Other Thoughts:

Saw Priscilla (loved it). Saw Aftersun (heartbreakingly beautiful). Watching The Buccaneers (silly!). Watching the new season of Fargo (excellent!).