By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Mark Brian Smith | Tony Montana
Country: united_states
Year: 2004
Running time: 115
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390336/combined
Ron says: “You’ll never work in this town again: OVERNIGHT is a documentary that follows the meteoric rise of Troy Duffy, who was given an unprecedented deal by Miramax in 1997 to direct his screenplay for THE BOONDOCK SAINTS. His deal also included providing the music for the film, and Miramax also promised to buy him the bar where he worked. At the time, he was being touted as the next Quentin Tarantino. The fact Duffy invited two documentary film makers to record his rise to the top of the Hollywood heap shows Duffy’s arrogance and narcissism. Amazingly, Duffy never asked the documentarians to stop filming, and over the next few years Duffy manages to burn nearly every bridge and alienate every business partner he encounters in both the worlds of film and music. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a fictional character that is as big a jerk as Duffy. It’s a fascinating film and my favorite (so far).”
Michael says: “This amusing documentary depicts the rise and fall of Troy Duffy, a Boston-raised, LA bartender who was catapulted into ‘overnight’ success when his screenplay was purchased by Miramax. The resulting film, BOONDOCK SAINTS, and the much-publicized fall from grace makes for pretty entertaining film. Most people enjoy seeing obnoxious, in-your-face types get their come-uppance. Not so much a cautionary tale, then a getting-what-he-deserves film, directors Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith were pals of Duffy’s who were originally making a film of Duffy’s meteoric rise. With the release of OVERNIGHT they hope to capitalize on his failure.
“The documentary is fairly standard fare with regard to style, but the story is a pretty behind-the-scenes look at how Hollywood works as a business, and as we Chlotrudis members might suspect, it isn’t pretty. Like DiG! and LOST IN LA MANCHA, the filmmakers of OVERNIGHT benefit from such a fascinating subject and interesting story. OVERNIGHT does not make me want to rush out and see BOONDOCK SAINTS. It does, however, make me appreciate filmmakers like Jonathan Couette, director of TARNATION all that much more. 3 1/2 cats”
Chris says: “Troy Duffy serves as an unfortunate poster child for how one’s ego and ineptitude can turn a once-of-a-lifetime possibility into a raging train wreck. It’s creepily fascinating, but in a guilty-pleasure sort of way more than a fair account of what went wrong (see LOST IN LA MANCHA for the latter). A thinly veiled kiss-off made by two former members of Duffy’s entourage, you could say they were justified in charting how stupendously he blew his Miramax deal and dug his own grave. But Duffy comes off as such a cartoonish loser that you can’t help but root for his failure. OVERNIGHT acts as a decent cautionary tale for aspiring auteurs, but for the rest of us, it’s like a glum version VH-1’s BEHIND THE MUSIC without the tacked-on optimistic ending. 2 cats”
| Overnight (USA; 115 min.) directed by: |
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