LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – "Steve Carell and Tina Fey's night out is not so much a bad date as a sad date," Germain says.

Carell and Fey play long-married parents who hope to add spark to their marriage through a night on the town. Livening up their cozy New Jersey lives, the two have dinner in a restaurant once a week at the same place. After two of their friends (Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Wiig) announce they're splitting up, the two swipe a no-show couple's dinner reservation at a trendy Manhattan restaurant. They are mistaken for blackmailers with incriminating evidence and go on the lam from dangerous criminal types.

While Fey and Carrell "have an easy, affectionate rapport," the film according to Germain "leave(s) them tottering through painful verbal exchanges, lame stunts and other dreadfully unfunny hijinks (their pole dance at a strip club is just embarrassing, and like so many of the movie's gags, it drags on a long time)."

"Date Night" does have an unusually strong supporting cast. The two "cross paths with a mobster (Ray Liotta), a security expert (Mark Wahlberg), a devoted cop (Taraji P. Henson), a drug dealer and his stripper girlfriend (James Franco and Mila Kunis) and two relentless thugs (Common and Jimmi Simpson)." However – Germain notes that these big names are tossed away in what amounts to undistinguished cameos. "The filmmakers give these extra hands nothing remotely interesting or amusing to do."

Germain recommends that moviegoers "skip this ´Date Night.´ Put the money toward your own night out at a fancy restaurant. Call ahead for a reservation first."