Checked on the new Seth Rogan, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Anthony Mackie Christmas stoner comedy The Night Before. About three friends who, in their early 30s, have decided to call it quits on their annual Christmas Eve pub crawl in NYC… just one more time and then no more.

As noted, this is a stoner Christmas comedy of sorts (even if only Rogan is stoned – but he’s stoned enough for everyone)… it’s about friendship and romance, finding your lost iphone, coming to terms with impending dad-hood, dealing with your friends growing up when you aren’t ready, dealing with your girlfriend wanting you to meet the parents, etc. It’s a lot of stuff in a big shaggy and occasionally very funny movie.

And I did laugh a lot – I enjoyed this movie’s humor, it’s stoner humor, and its heart… and its general ability to go both broad and subtle in its comedy all at the same time. It takes a little to get rolling – the first 30 minutes or so aren’t so good… so much so I was genuinely surprised at how good a time I was having suddenly.

There’s some surprising cameos in it too – one that wasn’t so surprising if you’ve seen the trailer and one that was a genuine surprise and so perfect.

So, yeah, check it out. It definitely earns an R rating and its pretty raunchy, but I think its earns it and its emotional core by the end of the flick.

Score: 84