The Night Before
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: November 20, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
16
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
HitfixDrew McWeenyNov 17, 2015
It may be overstuffed the point of bursting, but there's much to like here. Read full review
80
Total FilmKen McIntyreDec 8, 2015
If buddy movies are your thing but Christmas flicks aren't, you'll enjoy this refreshingly edgy romp about three friends lost in the city full of hallucinogens and regrets. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRebecca KeeganNov 19, 2015
A raucous and refreshing new take on the Christmas movie. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubNov 19, 2015
There’s still plenty of laughs left over for the audience, and the aggressive randomness of the script fuels some genuinely inventive comic moments. Although the writers of this R-rated cinematic binge frequently lose their focus, they never lose their sense of humor. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerNov 18, 2015
The Night Before isn’t Rogen’s funniest movie. Minute for minute, it doesn’t have as many laughs as "Superbad," "Neighbors," or "This Is The End," among others. But it does contain one of Rogen’s funniest performances, as Isaac navigates a very long and very bad drug trip, a responsibility-free Christmas gift from his wife. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattNov 18, 2015
In its own druggy, dick-pic way, it’s also a pretty endearing tribute to male friendship — hammy and crude and more baked than a fruitcake, but with a sweetly squishy holiday heart at its center. Read full review
75
The PlaylistRuss FischerNov 17, 2015
Always energetic like the wild whoop of a bachelor party, the lights burn brightest when The Night Before indulges in big goofs and kooky tangents. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeNov 16, 2015
It offers more than enough laughs to justify taking time out from TV marathons of A Christmas Story, and maybe enough, at least for younger audiences, to become a pinch-hitter each year when established classics like Elf grow too familiar. Read full review
70
VarietyNick SchagerNov 16, 2015
Rogen’s zonked-to-insanity performance is the lifeblood of The Night Before, giving it the sort of joyous, madcap energy that comes from letting loose with one’s closest comrades, even to the point of potential oblivion. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 19, 2015
It's rowdy fun with a dash of sweetness. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 19, 2015
Still, it's pretty rich watching Rogen puke all over a Christmas Eve Mass in front of his in-laws. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryNov 19, 2015
The Night Before is hardly a Christmas miracle, but it’s good for a laugh or two. And that’s not a bad way to get into the holiday spirit. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoNov 18, 2015
The Night Before is a well-intentioned comedy with some big laughs and some big misfires, but it ultimately works because Rogen and his well-cast buddies ground it in a way that makes them likable. A killer Michael Shannon supporting performance never hurts either. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 17, 2015
If the spirit of the season is making you sick to your stomach, The Night Before, scruffy and uneven as it is, might be the perfect purge. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNov 30, 2015
It’s a pageant, as they say — a bunch of cameos and funny situations all sort of held together with a bare bones plot and some nods to the Christmas spirit. Read full review
60
EmpireIan FreerNov 30, 2015
It doesn’t all land, but The Night Before is largely a salty, sweet jingle ball. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsAllen SalkinNov 18, 2015
It’s enjoyable, but it’s also trite. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 17, 2015
Jonathan Levine’s night of debauchery and hugs hits a sweet spot of inoffensive offensiveness. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanNov 17, 2015
Surprisingly, for a movie this ephemeral, the closing sequences, which consist of flashbacks and confrontations, are actually quite touching. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughNov 24, 2015
The pre-Thanksgiving release of Jonathan Levine’s The Night Before celebrates those Christmas blessings that are beloved by all: scatological humor, smarmy sentimentality, and gross product placement. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottNov 19, 2015
The emotional moments don’t pay off any better than most of the jokes, which reach for the safest kinds of provocative punch lines having to do with sex, race and religion. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 19, 2015
At times, it’s really funny. More often, it’s “shocking” for the sake of shock value, gross for the sake of being gross, and stupid-goofy without much of a payoff. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 18, 2015
The Night Before wants to make you laugh and cry, but it doesn’t give us enough opportunities to do enough of either. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesNov 18, 2015
This “one crazy night” taps out at lightly kooky; there’s nothing here that gets within striking distance of the sheer weirdness of "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" or the darkness of "After Hours", to name two genre stablemates. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayNov 18, 2015
It aims to foster a spirit of giddy anarchy in order to tie a ribbon around its shambolic script and rickety pacing. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlNov 17, 2015
At first the laughs are Hangover III–spare and the picture is too shambling to lunge for them. But these leftovers warm up eventually. The usual setups at last develop variations, and you might be reminded of why audiences first responded to Rogen back in Knocked Up. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 17, 2015
A so-so stoner film where the premise is almost always better than the execution. Read full review
50
TheWrapDan CallahanNov 16, 2015
It’s as if the makers of The Night Before have it in them to make a touching and funny movie but instead throw that chance away by not taking what they’re doing seriously enough. Read full review
42
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallNov 18, 2015
The Night Before isn't anything Harold, Kumar or Billy Bob Thornton didn't desecrate before and better. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNov 19, 2015
An uneven R-rated Christmas comedy that's more enjoyable than, say, your Nana's fruitcake, but which at the same time doesn't feel quite like the dose of memorable holiday cheer it could have been. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithNov 18, 2015
I was searching for a metaphor to capture the experience of watching The Night Before when a character fell backward into a dumpster full of garbage bags. Thanks, guys! Read full review
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