General

THE OVERNIGHT (review)

Caitlyn Thompson

Published

June 26, 2015

Review by Caitlyn Thompson

Produced by Mark Duplass,

Jay Duplass, Adam Scott
Written and Directed by Patrick Brice
Starring Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling,

Jason Schwartzman, Judith Godrèche

Not worth it.

An amalgam of raunchy one-liners, gratuitous nudity and incessant awkwardness, The Overnight lacks originality and falls very flat.

Emily (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Adam Scott) have moved to LA recently and are attempting to settle in and hopefully make some adult friends.

The characters are typical for this pre-middle-age sexually-awkward-filled dramedy. Their banter is quick, they are satisfied but admittedly rather bored with their lifestyle.

Schilling’s a businesswoman of sorts–it’s clearly not important because the only information we have on her job is that she wears nice blazer. Scott is a frumpy stay-at-home dad.

Schilling and Scott do have a fun chemistry but his slip into Jason’s ridiculous artwork and blaset share-everything-with-the-world philosophy is obnoxious and his Taylor’s exasperation simply becomes tiresome.

Enter Jason Schwartzman as Kurt.

I feel a little bad saying this but I’m really tired of the hipster-esque schtick he’s so prone to playing. The overly calm demeanor, ironically retro outfits, and intrusive friendliness which is, let’s be real here, just creepy. He offers a hippie-dippie unoriginal performance flaunting his giant (prosthetic penis) and extreme close-up paintings of anal apertures.

His counterpart, Charlotte (Judith Godrèche) is a sexy French woman whose purpose is to exude extreme sexuality while soft spoken and childishly cute. It’s a bit unsettling after a while.

Do these features add anything to the plot? No.

Is there even a plot? Not really.

Though The Overnight is shot in a carefree manner; shaky blurred extreme close-ups in the beautiful California sun, the dialogue immediately trumps and authenticity the environment might have otherwise helped create. Nice lighting never compensates for bad story.

Movies of this genre are difficult to take seriously.

Yes, they have funny lines. Yes, the casting can be great. But the opportunity for originality or cleverness is always tossed aside for outlandish plot lines that are too stupid to be amusing. It’s a shame because the actors have a good deal of talent and are given foolish roles.

Personally, I think Neighbors is the exception to this rule. Rose Byrne and Seth Rogan are adorable and witty, Zac Efron and Dave Franco are charming and clever. The film gets silly, yes, but it’s relatively plausible and genuinely funny. There of course has to be one shot of unnecessary nudity and an awkward sex scene–it’s part of the formula–but it fits, it works, the movie remains solid. It’s the one done right. It most definitely trumps The Overnight, While We’re Young, and This is 40.

Those films are all relatively rushed (or way too long), a bit sloppy, unrealistic and just overall enjoyable. A shame.