Rating: ****
Up All Night is a brand new comedy starring Will Arnett and Christina Applegate as a
married couple struggling to adapt to life with a newborn. Chris (Arnett), quits his job at a law firm to be a stay-at-home dad, while Reagan (Applegate) heads back to work as a talk-show
producer. Of course, comedy ensues when all he wants to do is laze around and she is distracted at work thanks to constant worrying
over their baby, Amy. Unfortunately, the writers of this newborn comedy are as
unprepared for a show as Chris and Reagan are for a child.
It’s not to say the show doesn’t have potential; in fact, after a few episodes it really finds it's feet, but to start with it's just not as laugh-out-loud funny as other
NBC sitcoms.
Watching Arnett’s character deal with the tasks of being a stay-at-home
dad are irresistibly clever and relatable. Chris is on grocery duty, but
he panics and can’t find the “normal cheese.” Though the scene feels
rushed thanks to him freaking out over an elderly lady finding Amy cute. Chris also bonds with another stay-at-home dad over Xbox Live, but
the subplot never goes anywhere. If the writers are smart they’ll keep
that recurring to keep Arnett’s scenes dynamic, because as this episode
progressed it seemed that most of his scenes will either be with the
baby or with his wife, whic is a waste of Arnett as an actor.
Applegate, however, received most of the screentime for the parenting
duo. In Reagan's return as a producer, she is greeted by her friend and host
of the talk show, Ava (Rudolph). Their
interactions don't start off that funny, but as the series has progressed their chemistry and characters have developed and they are genuinly funny together. It’s
clear Ava has missed Reagan and wants their relationship to stay as
carefree as it was pre-baby. She shows up late at night with champagne
and begs the couple to drink. Then on Chris and Reagan’s seventh wedding
anniversary, Ava forces Reagan to stay late at work making the couple
cancel their big plans. Ava has an awful lot to do with the plot, her antics causing
the couple to go out late on an impromptu date for their anniversary,
which produces rapid-fire scenes of them at a bar drinking and singing
karaoke. Chris wants to do the responsible thing and go home, but guess who turns up? Ava, with bottle in hand and ready to keep the new parents
away from their baby.
Regardless of the shaky first plot, all the acting invUp All Night feels natural. The chemistry between Arnett and Applegate is spot-on and isn’t forced like at all. As I've already said, Rudolph has the potential to be
the break out star of the show, and producers might follow her
more closely to keep the viewers coming back for her character. The
most head-scratching character was played by Nick Cannon, who popped up
as the MC for the talk show for all of five seconds. Luckily he pop's up more, and is actually a pretty funny addition to the cast.
Up All Night - Promo
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