Romantic comedies haven’t been as prevalent as they used to be, with few non-Nicholas Sparks approved films seeing the light of day. That being said, the ones that do exist manage to be cookie cutter, not managing to go in-depth into the romance that drives the entire feature. Thankfully, About Last Night, a remake of the 1986 Rob Lowe film, doesn’t waste an impressive cast on another pedestrian rom-com script. Instead, the movie manages to surprise with a thoughtful plot and vulgar laughs that are hilarious.

When it comes to women, Bernie (Kevin Hart) think he’s got ‘em figured out, and he’s always more than happy to regale his buddy Danny (Michael Ealy) with his female related exploits. But when Danny falls for Joan (Regina Hall) and Bernie can’t seem to get Debbie (Joy Bryant) out of his head, their notions of romance will be tested, especially as Danny’s relationship with Joan begins to get serious.

After having to deal with another young-people-deal-with-modern-romance film, That Awkward Moment, recently, I was worried that About Last Night would be as tonally inconsistent and unfunny as that movie. Luckily, things are much better here, mainly thanks to a great script by Leslye Headland, which manages to create the one thing I always want out of R-rated comedies (besides laughs of course); likable characters. In the course of relationships, people do things they both celebrate and regret, and the film amazingly manages to express such a sentiment remarkably well.

That achievement comes in the form of the well developed relationship between Joan and Danny. Their chemistry is aces and they interact in a realistic manner, especially in some of the more tense moments that come through in the second act. The film, which is divided into 4 differents season (summer, fall, winter, spring) allows us to see the relationship grow in an organic way that separates it from the other more shallow romance that other protagonists go through in normal rom-coms. In stark contrast to Joan and Danny, Bernie and Debbie don’t want to commit to each other, they want to be rid of each other. Still, the two always seem to keep coming back to each other and their on-and-off again relationship is one of the movies best aspects (their scene at a Halloween party is priceless).

Unfortunately, by the time the last half hour arrives, the film seems to settle into cliches that it’s been avoiding for the rest of the film. To boot, Regina Hall, the weakest actor of the bunch, is supposed to anchor many scenes towards the end and her occasionally lackluster acting means several of the films biggest emotional moments don’t land as well as they could have. Still, there’s plenty of introspectiveness and gags to make up for those missteps. Amazingly, About Last Night is a surprise that lets hilarious people like Kevin Hart tell a surprisingly deep story about commitment and what it means to different people.