About Last Night is a photocopy of a photocopy. Adapted from the '80s Rob Lowe/Demi Moore vehicle, About Last Night..., which was itself an adaptation of David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago, this new iteration seems to have morphed its initial premise to the point of abstraction.
About Last Night... boasted an uncommonly honest portrayal of what happens when a one-night stand is extended far beyond its shelf life. Moore and Lowe fell into a relationship that was largely based on sexual chemistry, and because both were too decent to own up to that fact, they found themselves in a fundamentally incompatible relationship that was doomed from the beginning. It didn't help that the two lovebirds were incessantly hounded by their respective best friends (Elizabeth Perkins and Jim Belushi, in what may be his last watchable performance) giving destructive advice.
In 2014's About Last Night, Lowe's bland-yet-handsome character is filled in by Michael Ealy, and the increasingly unavoidable Kevin Hart takes Belushi's boorish lout. Joy Bryant and Regina Hall have the Moore and Perkins characters. While the best friends are still exhausting busybodies, the dynamics here are a little different. While Belushi and Perkins were bitter rivals, Hart and Hall are an item - presumably because Hart couldn't be quite as believably repellant as Belushi was.
What may end up being the most intriguing element of this remake is its writer. A woman is offering a solo take on Mamet's Sexual Perversity (About Last Night... did have Denise DeClue, though she cowrote it with her husband, Tim Kazurinsky). Leslye Headland, herself a playwright turned screenwriter, may end up giving the material's admittedly somewhat dated exploration of romance the jolt that it needs to enter the 21st century. Only time will tell.
About Last Night... was a rarity: a mature romantic comedy that balanced sexiness, humor, and gender politics with mostly deft aplomb, which is far from an easy feat. This new iteration has a lot to live up to.
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