Past & Present: Date Night (2010) is The Out-Of-Towners (1970) meets North By Northwest (1959)

I watched Date Night (2010) the other day . The new Steve Carell-Tina Fey film is The Out-Of-Towners (1970) meets North By Northwest (1959) - a suburbanite husband and wife go to the big city and become the victims of mistaken identity.

Found at collider.com

Have you seen Date Night? Are these plot points coincidences or deliberate allusions to classic films?

SPOILERS AHEAD

Date Night & North By Northwest

#1
North By Northwest - A page calls a name in a crowded lobby. A man named Thornhill is mistaken for someone who doesn't exist. He spends the rest of the movie trying to clear his name.

Date Night - A waitress calls a name in a crowded restaurant. The couple is mistaken for another couple named Triplehorn, who technically do not exist. They spend the rest of the movie trying to clear their names.

[It seems as though I'm nitpicking, but why would the author go to the trouble of finding a name beginning with "t" and having the "h-o-r-n" sequence of letters in it if not to allude to one of the most famous characters in a mistaken identity movie - Thornhill? The movie explains it away merely by saying the character who made up the name likes Jean Triplehorn, the actress. And that's it. It's a lame explanation, which seems to discredit a coincidence theory and strengthen the idea of a deliberate homage.]

#2
NBN - There's a comic scene where the leading man could be killed by driving a car into water.
DN - There's a comic scene where the leading man could be killed by driving a car into water.

[There are many mistaken identity films where the danger is treated as a real threat and there are many comic car-in-water scenes, but it's not common to have both together.]

MGM

Twentieth Century Fox

#3
NBN - A menacing criminal mastermind, played by James Mason, wants the hero dead.
DN - A menacing mob boss, played by Ray Liotta, wants the couple dead.

#4
NBN - The MacGuffin is the microfilm.
DN - The MacGuffin is the flashdrive.

#5
NBN - To gain important information, the lady is sent to infiltrate a crook's inner sanctum and cuddle up to him.
DN - To gain important information, the wife and the husband infiltrate a crook's inner sanctum and pole dance for him.

#6
NBN - The climax is atop Mount Rushmore
DN - The climax is atop a New York skyscraper

#7
NBN - The married couple relaxes after the adventure. There is an inference of conjugal intimacies off screen.

DN - The married couple relaxes after the adventure. They nearly have conjugal intimacies onscreen.

Come on Date Night. No deadly crop duster scene?

MGM

Sure, any one of these points could be coincidences, but all of them? I'm not convinced these aren't deliberate homages.

Date Night & The Out-of-Towners

One could argue that Date Night does not borrow from Towners, and that there is only so much one can do with a suburbanite-goes-to-the-big-city plot before all such films look the same.

Still, I find it difficult to believe that Date Night is not referencing the Jack Lemmon-Sandy Dennis film when there is basically the same story line AND the leading ladies wear similar outfits throughout the one terrible night that they are in Manhattan (i.e most of the movie)- dark blue dress and ecru coat.

Paramount Pictures

Found at monicamonroe.com

Coincidences or homages? What do you think?

Seriously, though, I had fun watching Date Night.