Boys behave badly in raunchy 'Night Before'

There are plenty of ways to get into the holiday spirit: hanging decorations, lighting candles, caroling. Some people even enjoy elbowing through crowds in search of gifts.

The three 30-somethings at the center of “The Night Before” have their own tradition. It's just less ... traditional.

Every Christmas Eve, childhood buds Ethan, Chris and Isaac (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anthony Mackie and Seth Rogen) don ugly sweaters, get drunk, hit a karaoke bar, smoke a few joints and play Nintendo.

As with any movie starring Rogen, there's a vein of sweetness running through the predictably raunchy story of boys behaving badly (but not too badly). In this case, the origins of the trio's annual get-together began 14 years ago, just after Ethan's parents were killed in a car crash. Despondent and alone at the holidays, Ethan was rescued by his longtime friends, who took their buddy out drinking. Ever since, they've been doing the same thing.

But even man-children have to grow up eventually. Isaac's wife, Betsy (Jillian Bell), is days away from giving birth to the couple's first child. And Chris, a charismatic pro football star, has little time, given his celebrity on and off the field.

For his part, Ethan, an aimless failed musician who recently broke up with his girlfriend Diana (Lizzy Caplan), would happily continue the tradition ad infinitum. But the friends agree that after one final blowout, they'll suspend the custom.

And what a finale it will be.

For starters, Ethan has stolen tickets to the Nutcracka Ball, the holy grail of holiday parties, which the guys have been trying to crash for years. Meanwhile, Betsy surprises Isaac with an early present: a grab bag of drugs she bought off Craigslist so that her husband can enjoy one final night not to remember before fatherhood.

That outlandish twist is one of many indications that “The Night Before” was written and directed by men. (Make that dudes: Director Jonathan Levine wrote the screenplay with Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir. All have worked with Rogen before.)

Although Rogen and Gordon-Levitt have previously played best friends (“50/50”), the camaraderie among the three feels forced. In an apparent effort to inoculate the film against that criticism, the screenplay includes a discussion about how strange it is that a tie-dyed Bob Marley fan, a jock and an artsy outsider ever wound up as friends.

It's especially odd as their stories diverge: The more mushrooms and cocaine Isaac ingests, the more worried he is about being a good father; Chris keeps getting his stash of marijuana stolen by a crazed fan (Ilana Glazer of “Broad City”); and Ethan desperately wants to win back Diana.

All of this is punctuated with plenty of gross-out humor. In one very funny scene, Isaac picks up the wrong cellphone; in his stupor, he can't understand why someone keeps texting him dirty photos.

Rogen — the most naturally gifted comic of the three — nearly ends up stealing the show. But then Michael Shannon turns up, playing a creepily philosophical drug dealer — a sort of pot-smoking Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future, all rolled into one.

Shannon's scenes are especially funny compared with the rest of the derivative jokes, which include countless references to such past holiday movies as “Home Alone” and “Die Hard.”

“The Night Before” is hardly a Christmas miracle, but it's good for a laugh or two. And that's not a bad way to get into the holiday spirit.

“The Night Before”

★ ★ ½

<b>Starring:</b> Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anthony Mackie, Michael Shannon, Jillian Bell

<b>Directed by:</b> Jonathan Levine

<b>Other:</b> A Columbia Pictures release. Rated R for nudity, language, sexual situations and drug use. 101 minutes