friday night out

Films where one night out is the whole movie, and it goes a good deal further than anyone planned.

Most of these nights start with a modest plan. In Booksmart, two top students realise on the eve of graduation that they have worked too hard, and set out to cram four years of fun into one night. In Superbad, Seth and Evan spend a long day trying to get hold of enough alcohol for a party that will, they hope, start their sex lives. In 21 & Over, a quick beer for a friend's 21st birthday the night before a medical school interview becomes a night of humiliation and drinking far too much. In Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Nick's ex-girlfriend turns up at his gig with a new guy, and the night that follows runs through Manhattan. In American Graffiti, two high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

Others lose the plan almost at once. Phil Foster in Date Night fears his marriage has fallen into a rut, so he takes a no-show couple's table at a packed restaurant, and two men who work for someone that couple crossed ask him and his wife to stand up and come along. In Adventures in Babysitting, Chris expects a dull evening with three kids until a friend phones from a bus station in downtown Chicago. In Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, two friends get stoned in front of the TV, see a White Castle commercial and set out on a late-night odyssey deep into New Jersey. The three friends in The Hangover come to after a bachelor party with a baby in the closet and a tiger in the bathroom, and no groom.

Some nights turn into a different kind of film. In After Hours, a word processor goes downtown to Soho for a date and finds himself trapped in a nightmare of coincidences. In Victoria, a Spanish woman newly arrived in Berlin goes out with a local guy and his friends, and the night turns dangerous.