The Overnight

Short and sweet, Patrick Brice's foursome mumblecore The Overnight is disguised as a more accessible comedy, headlined by Adam Scott and Jason Schwartzman along with Taylor Schilling. Thriving on awkward humour at the expense of new age lifestyles and anxieties, it treads a fine line of endearingly goofy, unexpectedly incisive and plain weird. However, in its brief runtime, it spends sequences on the mundane, highlighting a couple relatable aspects such as Scott's believable inability to make real friends. Its theme of sexual desires outside of monogamy brings to light a harsh truth that many would quietly acknowledge and it's sparked by the idea of that freedom, though it's an energy that's swiftly interrupted. It's not very visually inspired, including two very dangly and infamous props, but Taylor Schilling is a bright spark of the cast while Adam Scott holds his own in a feature film. Meanwhile Schwartzman is less of a person than a caricature but that is surely the intention behind the pair to bring out the humanity in Schilling and Scott. The Overnight earns a few chuckles and a few insights but it's mostly held back by its brevity but it has a sincerity through all the slight wackiness that makes it work, if just a little bit.

7/10

I didn't want to read any reviews before watching the movie so it would not spoil the story. I just saw the scores that were mixed, so I was wondering which side I would be on. And I have to admit I did enjoy the movie. It was quirky, sometimes a little provocative, but I had a couple good laughs. And I am absolutely not a fan of Adam Scott. I don't know why, there is just something that bugs me about him. But in this movie he was okay, not great, just okay. Jason Schwartzman though he makes me laugh. It's not a movie that will make you laugh all the time, but there are some situations that definitely will give you a smile on your face. I can get that some people won't like it, because nobody has the same sense of humor. But for me it was worth a watch.

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

'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.

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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.