The Overnight

'THE OVERNIGHT': Four Stars (Out of Five)

Raunchy sex comedy flick, written and directed by indie filmmaker Patrick Brice. It stars Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godreche; as two sets of parents, one conservative and one unconventional, who meet for a playdate between their two sons, which leads to much more. It was produced by Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Adam Scott and Naomi Scott; on a budget of just $200,000. I found it to be odd, disturbing and very funny.

Alex (Scott) and Emily (Schilling) just moved to Los Angeles, with their young son RJ (R.J. Hermes). They meet Kurt (Schwartzman), and his son Max (Max Moritt), at a park; and Kurt invites them over for a family playdate. Alex and Emily accept the invitation, and they meet Kurt's wife, Charlotte (Godreche), upon arrival. Things go from strange, to crazy, after the two kids fall asleep.

The movie is quirky, and hilariously funny, in places. Most of the time it's extremely uncomfortable, and disturbing, as well; watching these characters have these extremely awkward and bizarre encounters. That's what's so good about the movie though, even more so than it's witty humor, is just it's insightful (and extremely odd) look, at human nature. The movie is definitely worth seeing just for that.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/bOI7ZdxfHTQ

Greetings again from the darkness. For kindergartners, making friends is as easy as a bag of gummy worms on the playground. For adults, it's a bit more complicated. According to writer/director Patrick Brice (Creep, 2015) making adult friends can involve rectum paintings and penis prosthetics … at least after a lot of wine and too many bong hits. While this is not my wheelhouse for humor, it's clearly a bold cinematic step and pushes the boundaries even further than other recent Duplass Brothers projects (they are Producers here).

Emily (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Adam Scott) have recently moved to L.A. from Seattle with their young son. Emily and Alex are good parents, good people, and a solid couple – except for some sexual incompatibility. While at the park, their son (and his gummy worms) befriends the son of Kurt (Jason Schwartzman), one of the endless oddballs that populate L.A. Kurt charms Emily and Alex into visiting his home for an adult dinner party/kid playdate.

Greeted at the door of the mansion by Kurt's French wife Charlotte (Judith Godreche), Emily and Alex are clearly wooed by the worldliness and sophistication of their new friends. Kurt is a bit of a renaissance man and he and Charlotte also appear to be a solid couple … though as the evening unfolds, we soon enough discover their own sexual incompatibility. And therein lies the core and conflict of the film – relationship dynamics impacted by sexual tension explored through raunchy humor.

It's interesting to compare Brice's film with Paul Mazursky's 1969 "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice", and analyze the cultural and cinematic differences brought on by the 46 year difference. What was shocking then, is nothing compared to what this film has us believe that most young adult couples are struggling with now. Emily and Alex spend the evening exploring their boundaries as individuals and as a couple, while being softly pushed by the more adventurous Kurt and Charlotte. Were it not so raunchy, the theme would be more interesting … though significantly less appealing at the box office.

All four lead actors are strong, but Schwartzman and Scott handle the more challenging roles with aplomb. Given my preferences, I could have used a safe word on a couple of occasions, but the real test will be whether audiences find the film a bold step forward, or whether it is judged to be shock for shock's sake.

While The Overnight has a few flaws in its execution, the chemistry among the principal actors comes close to making up for them. Having just moved to Los Angeles, Alex (Adam Scott), Emily (Taylor Schilling), and their son R.J. (R.J. Hermes) are eager to extend their social circle. When they meet Kurt (Jason Schwartzman), he invites them all over for an overnight playdate with his wife Charlotte (Judith Godréche) and Max (Max Moritt). After their children go to sleep for the night, the evening becomes increasingly weird and suburban debauchery ensues. It's the awkward bromance that begins to develop between Alex and Kurt that ends up driving the narrative. Scott is great at playing the slightly neurotic everyman, and he explores his character's insecurities about his masculinity (or in Alex's words, his abnormally small dick) with his usual brand of self-deprecating charm. The character of Kurt is the quintessential Los Angeles hipster, and Schwartzman completely owns it. His effortless cool perfectly complements Scott's nervous tension, and the scenes in which these two bond over art and their penises (both Scott and Schwartzman don prosthetic dongs in a memorable skinny dipping scene) are hilarious. Schilling and Godréche offered solid performances, but their characters didn't seem as fleshed out as their male counterparts. It's not a perfect film, but it offers a unique and funny story about what people are willing to do in order to strengthen a marriage. –Alex Springer

I saw this ages ago but I decided to review it when I found out it was by the same guy who did the "Creep" movies. How about that. I like finding out things like that.

This movie is quite singular. It has this unassuming, disquieting power, like the first act of thriller where everyone thinks everything is fine until everything isn't. With limited characters, setting and time lapse (it is indeed the events of a night) the effect relies on making sure the characters are vivid and three dimensional and they all just pop of the screen.

It always has this sense of build up to something immense and never quite pays off so I'm tempted to say it's more like one of half or two thirds of a great movie without really being a great movie itself, though its a great two thirds.

it's on one level very simple; an innocent rendez-vous of an inhibited couple and an exhibitionist couple leads us to find that neither is exactly what they seem.

it's not really a profound or vivid narrative. It's more like those dinner parties you have in your life where the conversations plus the wine makes you think you've had an epiphany on how to unlock the potential of living until the next morning where you just get to work as usual.

it's definitely the journey not the destination and you get an agreeable amount of frankness about human sexuality. it's not always easy viewing but it shows an admirable amount of restraint in its script.

Memorable but I still feel a bit at a loss for what it was even trying to say.

This is one of those films where the less you know, the better. As an overall film it is incredibly difficult to judge in terms of its merits. The film is really its own creation and it beats to its own rhythm. The cast is very strong, and the film is surely entertaining throughout. Because it's so unpredictable, there's a certain joy to get from just wondering where it'll all go. For that reason, it's more of a film that will be a lot stronger on first viewing. I don't know how it'll really hold up on rewatches, but I suspect it'll lose a lot. I had a great time watching it, but I also don't know if to recommend it because I feel like many people (and I say that with emphasis on many) will hate the film and what it eventually becomes.