I haven’t written about Date Night since seeing it for one simple reason: I agree entirely with just about every review of it I’ve read.

Here we have two of our funniest, most interesting and appealing actors paired up with a script that is only occasionally worthy of their talents. At times the film broaches themes and topics that feel fresh but it quickly devolves back into a slapstick action comedy padded with pointless chase scenes.

But despite those flaws, Steve Carrell and Tina Fey bring so much good will to the table that you can’t help but root for them, and therefore for the movie. So it’s pretty tough to dislike Date Night even as it lets you down for not being what it could have been.

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Fans of Carrell and Fey will enjoy watching them play off of each other, particularly when they’re given some space to improvise. Playing a married couple trapped in a rut most married couples will recognize, they tap into their own domestic experiences — these roles wouldn’t have worked as well if played by actors who weren’t themselves married for a long time and “older” (by Hollywood standards).

One scene in particular stands out as the film’s best. Mistaken for grifters attempting to blackmail a crime boss, the couple has been kidnapped and shot at before finally escaping. On the run, they slip into a typical marital spat and pull over in their getaway car to have a conversation that rings incredibly true.

Fey’s character confesses that she doesn’t fantasize about other men (such as the shirtless security guru played by Mark Wahlberg) but simply about being alone sometimes, away from the pressure and demands of motherhood, work and marriage. I could sense the nodding of hundreds of women in the theater around me and I realized I was seeing a rare onscreen exploration of those very real frustrations.

I read later that Fey came up with that scene (doesn’t surprise me in the least) and that she had to fight to keep it in the final cut (also doesn’t surprise me, but depresses me). Date Night could have used more of that and fewer car chases.

If anybody is making that movie, please hire these actors and get back to me. I’ll be first in line.