Adults rarely act their age, especially since normal behavior is rarely legitimized.  For Modern Family, ‘Up All Night’ is their way of illustrating the immaturity of adults.  For a sitcom, it’s like saying the sky is blue.

The Message

The tricky part about Modern Family is just like Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, everything has to fit in a box while staying out of it.  For a show centered around one big family, it can be difficult to supplement every week with a meaningful yet original message.  ‘Up All Night’ feels like an episode where the message just doesn’t seem to mesh with the comedy.

Every individual storyline is entertaining, but as the episode attempts to string them together, the audience is left with an idea that goes like this: people can be stupid.  Not only is this obvious (hello, this is a situational comedy), it is more than a little undermining.

The Upside

I will say that the usual advantages to Modern Family still remains in this episode.  The cast is great, the chemistry is phenomenal, and there is even a big name actor to boost the tension (aka Benjamin Bratt).  Still, when a series is as great as Modern Family, the usual is not quite good enough to make an episode like ‘Up All Night’ memorable.

Modern Family relies on its balance between wacky, over-the-top comedy and sentimental hope.  When the sentiment goes awry, however, an episode like ‘Up All Night’ appears and leaves the comedy a little sour.

Rating: 7.9/10

Popularity: 8% [?]