Several years ago, Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) had the best Christmas Eve of his life —a night of drunken buffoonery with his best buddies Isaac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) — thus spawning a yearly tradition filled with drugs, alcohol and holiday sweaters. Ethan — now 33, single and working as a mall elf during the Christmas season — finds tickets to the most exclusive Christmas party in the city, a party that has eluded the trio since the inception of its holiday tradition. Tonight is to be the night that they find that party for ‘twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Isaac gets gifted a bunch of drugs from his spouse …
Played by Jillian Bell, Betsy is so proud of how supportive her husband has been during her pregnancy that she buys him a small cache of drugs to celebrate his holiday tradition (including everything from ecstasy to magic mushrooms). This sets the stage for Isaac wandering the city in a drug stupor that Dr. Gonzo from “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” would have envied. There are so many comedic gems mixed with offensive gags that fans will find the recipe familiar, especially if you’re a fan of Rogen’s previous work. Pairing Gordon-Levitt and Rogen is also familiar, as the two had good on-screen success with their previous effort "50/50," also directed by Jonathan Levine.
However, “The Night Before” unsuccessfully attempts to tackle the more serious issue of Ethan never growing up and becoming a man. It seems contrived, and the love story between Ethan and Diana (Lizzy Caplan) is predictable and cliched yet serves as the thread that keeps his story going. Chris, a popular NFL player obsessed with social media, deals with his own comedy / tragedy after a chance sexual encounter with a self-proclaimed grinch named Rebecca (Ilana Glazer). Rebecca does everything she can to steal Christmas joy from the trio as she models her behavior after her all-time favorite Christmas villains (like the “Sticky Bandits” from "Home Alone").
In his hilarious portrayal of the trio's high school drug dealer, Michael Shannon steals the scene several times from the leads. Another nice touch is narration from "Black Santa," performed by Tracy Morgan.
There is a spectrum for Rogen movies — “This is The End” at the high end and “The Interview” at the lower end. “The Night Before” falls in the middle yet has enough laughs to make for an enjoyable experience.