Categories: News

'About Last Night' Remake Gets Mostly Positive Reviews

About Last Night, starring Kevin Hart, Regina Hall, Michael Ealy and Joy Bryant, reimagines the 80s rom-com Rob Lowe vehicle, which was based off David Mamet’s one-act drama Sexual Perversity in Chicago.

With the story transplanted to Los Angeles and an all black main cast, About Last Night refreshes the decades old narrative of four friends coupling up in a modern urban atmosphere. The melodrama is turned down and the comedy turned up in the Steve Pink-directed flick, making the remake relatively popular with many of film’s top critics. About Last Night’s detractors, however, wonder why the movie had to be remade at all.

Critics Weigh In On 'About Last Night'

“On paper, About Last Night is a third-generation copy of David Mamet's 1974 stage play Sexual Perversity in Chicago — but if anything, the way the material has now been rewritten again, it comes closer to Mamet's rancorous vision of dueling hormones than the '80s screen version did. […] You always know, in essence, where it's going, and I wish that Ealy and Bryant seemed less like a truly nice couple and more like movie stars. By the end, however, the movie has captured something undeniably genuine about contemporary relationships: all the ways that they can, and will, get in their own way.” – Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

“Is it a movie for you? Not if you still have fond memories of Lowe and Demi Moore from the first film, or a low tolerance for blue jokes and hard-core comedy. And if what you're really looking for this Valentine's Day is something softly focused, romantic and unbelievable — well, Endless Love is probably playing across the hall. But if you want something loud and dirty and funny — and maybe occasionally, recognizably, uncomfortably real — Hart and Hall are waiting and ready for you, Whether or not you're quite ready for them.” – Stephen Whitty, The Star-Ledger

“At least one out of this week's trio of reboot releases is worth watching: About Last Night is frisky fun made all the more entertaining because of the potent chemistry between its quartet of lead actors. While this rom-com adheres broadly to boy-meets-girl/boy-loses-girl conventions, the convincing performances and deft comic timing kick it up several notches. […] While some scenarios go over the top, there's an overall honesty to the story that makes up for minimal contrivances. The film effectively explores relationships from first flirtation to blissful passion and through rocky patches.” – Claudia Puig, USA Today

“The question to be asked of About Last Night, the so-called reimagining of the 1986 screen adaptation of David Mamet's caustic one-act dating comedy Sexual Perversity in Chicago, is not: "Is it better than the first film?" because it's a draw, at best. Rather, the question is: "Is there any pressing need for it?" There isn't. […] If Sony Pictures wanted to mine its library for a sexy vehicle for a quartet of attractive new stars, there had to be a richer option (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, anyone?).” – Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

About Last Night, rated R, is currently in wide release.

– Chelsea Regan

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