User reviews

I love gangster comedies. Tarantino was a master at it. Many have tried to COPY him and this is ANOTHER FAILED COPYCAT.

Not any good? Well, if you have been living in a cave for the last 40 years and you have never seen a movie during that 40 years, then I still would NOT RECOMMEND this movie IN ANY WAY, FORM POSSIBLE.

I usually do not believe people that rates movies 1 or 2. I just believe they did not like the movie and as a result they give a 1. This time I am the one giving one star. Do not believe people that rate this movie 8-9-10. There is absolutely no chance that a real human being watched this movie and thought it deserved a 10. There are some great actors and there are some nice visuals but that is it. Midway through the movie you realize there is no story what so ever. I thought this looked good at first but it is the worst movie I have seen in a very long time. Do not waste your time on this.

These actors deserve a better movie. Big names for B movie.

Another in an endless stream of films made by someone who's seen PULP FICTION too many times Completely devoid of talent behind the scenes, leaves a couple of half decent actors to fend for themselves.

I thought this film was dire. Don't believe the reviews that say otherwise. It doesn't make a lot of sense and some of it is plain stupid (e.g. Walking along a ledge with a blindfold. Why would anyone do it that way?).

I wish I'd given up on it in the first hour and saved wasting my time on the rest of it, but I foolishly stuck with it and now regret it. Don't make my mistake. You'll not get anything out of sticking to the end of this film and do yourself a favour and listen to my advice. I only wish someone had advised me.

The cast did a great job. Good action, but I think the film could have been delivered a bit differently. Love it visually.

American Night, a noir thriller set in New York City's shifty art world, tells the story of an art critic, the ruthless head of a crime organization, and the fight for money, art, power and love. Tasked with delivering a print of Andy Warhol's famous Pink Marilyn painting, two-bit criminal Shaky delivers the painting to the wrong person, and what unravels is a tale of ambition, greed, opportunism, and supposedly, love.

Della Valle's decision to tell the story out of order begins as an interesting concept, starting with a scuffle at a diner and cutting away before the audience understands its ramifications or importance to the overall plot. What starts as interesting, however, is revealed to be a technique used as a crutch to try and keep the audience's attention and smooth over the rough patches. Dodgy storytelling and characters with muddled motivations that are never fully made clear are the glaring negative standouts in this movie, doing little to bolster the efficacy of this low budget effort. While there's nothing wrong with a low budget film (plenty of movies with small and micro budgets have crafted amazing stories), American Night seems like a story that was possibly a bit too ambitious for the budget it was granted. Regrettably, this leads to jarringly bad visual effects, out of sync ADR, and third rate prosthetics (most notably, a laughably obvious bald cap).

Some of the creative choices used in American Night also manage to detract from any overall appeal. Excessive language and gratuitous nudity for nudity's sake gives the movie the feel of a first pass at a script written by a college freshman. These elements do little to cover for the weak writing and exposition dumps throughout the film.

Starring Emile Hirsch as gangster Michael Rubino and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as art critic John Kaplan, American Night is a far cry from their previous works. Hirsch, who came to prominence after Into the Wild and Speed Racer, hits his marks, says his lines, and doesn't make many attempts to emote. Playing the new mob boss hell bent on retrieving a painting he believes is his rightful claim, Hirsch's lackadaisical performance drags the film down with each scene he's in. Delivering one bland take after another, Hirsch appears almost uninterested in being in the film, there to collect his paycheck and disappear. Rhys Meyers isn't much better in his portrayal as shady art critic John Kaplan, but he's not given much material to work with. Kaplan is the most driven, passionate person in the movie, wanting nothing more than to desperately open his own gallery, which runs him afoul of a number of shady denizens. Rhys Meyers tries his best with what's on the page, but due in large part to the weak writing, Kaplan comes across as only slightly less one note than the rest of the cast.

Jeremey Piven also graces the screen from time to time as John Kaplan's screwup of a brother, Vincent. A failed stunt double, Vincent gets caught up in Kaplan's schemes as Piven, known for his talents at portraying detestable people, attempts to play against type as a man desperately hunting for a second chance at life. Piven injects his usual bit of humor into the role, but it's not enough to save him from the fates of the script. Michael Madsen, on screen for all of five minutes, has sadly devolved into playing various variations of Michael Madsen on screen. The real shame of the film lies in its portrayal of women. No woman in American Night has any agency or agenda of their own. They're reduced to secretaries, helpers, or items used for exposition. The only actor worth his salt in this film is Fortunato Cerlino as Shaky, the man tasked with delivering the macguffin to the appropriate place at the beginning of the film. Cerlino's comedic timing, as well as his affable, everyman nature makes Shaky an endearing character to root for as he scrambles to complete his simple task.

Written and directed by Alessio Della Valle, American Night's main fault lies in its subpar writing. The story of a newly minted crime boss who's been forced to downplay his love of art and culture due to the toxic masculinity of his environment is an idea rife with possibilities. Unfortunately, these ideas are hardly touched upon, with Della Valle's screenplay breezing past them to instead focus on surface level characters with at times laughable dialogue. Della Valle seemed more interested in attempting to make a slick, cool film, but fills his world with unrelatable characters, cliché dialogue, and incomprehensible pacing. This, combined with the bland direction from Della Valle, makes American Night a effort to sit through from start to finish.

Overall, American Night is a complete mess of a film. A subpar attempt a Tarantino-esque style of storytelling falls flat, leaving the viewer with a frustrated idea of what could have been, had the idea germinated in a more talented storyteller. A lack of good story, strongly written characters, or solid directing make the film a 123 minute chore to grind through to reach the end credits. A complete disservice to the neo-noir genre that it portends to be, the glaring omission of the classic noir elements relegates the movie to a simple bottom tier crime flick. The lackluster acting on top of the weak writing, combined with a needlessly complicated story with too many moving parts, makes this one of the worst films of 2021. American Night is in theaters and on VOD October 1st.

This film game is an American masterpiece and a huge, attractive, provocative, and thrilling picture of experimenting with the art of crime. It is still a massive triumph that the director Alessio Della Valle manages to create an overwhelmingly stylish and bold movie, with each shot being so thought-through. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Emile Hirsch demonstrated excellent acting; however, Della Valle's plot makes the movie extremely tense as they try to put it into viewers' minds. Featuring themes of lust, avarice, and creation bordered with destruction, this motion picture is enlightening and compelling.

I liked the films action sequences, but had a harder time keeping up with the unconventional plot and time jumps.

Another vapid, very low budget drama that's anything but dramatic. Meyers stumbles his way through a role that gives him little to do, playing an art forger juggling romance with underworld contacts. A bloated Michael Madsen grabs the cheque and who can blame him in a production this messy.

Wow this is pathetic. The lead actors in this are all washed up. Careers destroyed by substance abuse, a couple of major "metoo" abusers. The second tier is cringeworthy no talent as well.t The plot, dialogue and directing are cringeworthy throughout.

Lastly the positive reviews here are pathetic fakes. Virtually all accounts whose only activity is to give this absolute garbage a gushing review/rating.

1/10 stars.

How many more copycat movies can be thrust at us based on other 'copycat moviemakers' works - before everyone runs screaming from the room - or are perhaps the money providers as unintelligent as the movie makers? The writer/director's name (Alessio Della Valle) of this flashy looking stinker, may now need to be added to those 'must-avoid' lists. Is this the product that can now be expected to clog up our screens, made by those who grew up watching over-baked Sergio Leone, Tarantino, etc, movies? If so, heaven help society.

With apologies to some, here is a story as superficial as the 'art' it's inspired by. Warhol and Pollack were 'artists' selected by the 'Promote American Art' Economic Contingent of the CIA, with the sole intention of pushing American art into the Super-High price range of its European counterparts. And, as Big money most assuredly corrupts both art critics and sellers, these 'deals' served the purpose by spreading the myth...that's become today's blind 'reality' (you can fool or buy most of the people most of the time).

This foul, bullet and blood-laden swear fest, drags its way through its own slime to its seemingly interminable conclusion (even at half its 2Hr length this mess would seem overlong) Perhaps some bikie gang members may last the distance?: but viewers seeking substance will need to protect their heads by making a U-Turn, before letting this lowly, pseudo-intellect sewage into their lives.

Watch the box office returns take a nose dive - It may look seductively good, but it's all grotty style and no substance.

I don't think I've ever seen such disparate reviews for any other film. Veering wildly from one extreme to another, it seems to be all things to all people.

Not surprisingly, given my star rating, I'm very much on the dislike it side. The plot is messy, convoluted just for the sake of it. It's intent on showing you how clever it is, time loops, parallel action, snippets & vignettes scattered throughout.

It should have been an engaging, thought provoking ride through the value of art as we perceive it or how we are *told* to see it. All that & action, blood, cross & double cross! What's not to like? Actually, a whole lot.

The characters are so poorly drawn that it's impossible to care about them. Not exactly the fault of the actors, they're swimming against the tide with the superficiality of the script dragging them down at every turn. The only role that had any originality was the narcoleptic courier, injecting much needed freshness into a script that kept tripping over it's own pretentions.

If I'm feeling generous I would say this film lacks the light touch needed to pull off such complexity.

I'm NOT feeling generous, however. It's a ponderous trudge through tropes. Nothing engages the viewer or relieves the sense that you're watching a vanity project, aimed solely at a single person - the director.

You might have a completely different opinion & if you enjoy the film, good for you, but I'm at a loss to see any merit in it.

I'd rather watch paint dry. A film in which everyone appears to have forgotten how to do their job, acting, directing, script, music all get kicked to the curb in this pretentious waffle about mobsters and a stolen Warhol. Did the Director ever graduate? And did actors meet at a dinner party and owed someone a favour? I don't think anyone of them has been worse...

I initially thought that this was a hot mess of a movie. But "hot mess" implies that you still want to see how bad it is. This is so much worse than that - Incoherent writing, dialed in performances. Wish there was a plot to at least follow, but sadly none.

Oh dear.

Acting more wooden than an English Forest, this is as cliched a film as you'll ever come across.

I can't even find anything positive to say about it aside from the, nope. Sorry, nothing

Avoid.

I have to admit, the actors present in this movie surprised me by their presence. I did not expect to see so many people in this that I would recognize. Some things work better with them than other I reckon. Be water my friend - I think the delivery of this works. The blindfold part ... barely. You do question the motive of the character - even though I reckon you can explain everything ... still it does not work as good as the movie thinks it does.

That being said, just the fact that you have people who know how to act helps elevate the movie to a bigger level than maybe the script would have been worth without them. The action is well choreographed. Emile Hirsch relishes in being the bad guy too ... a bit of mayhem ... and a bit of love of b movies should be there in yourself to begin with.

Utterly ridiculous. Almost as though they had a room full of people just yelling out ideas as the scrip was being written, and the writer managed to fit each and every one in somewhere. This movie just can't decide what it is. It wants to be artistic, but can't commit to a medium or style. It wants to be complex, but the timeline is messy and confusing. The characters are acted by talented people, but completely lack depth and motivation. Watch something else.

At first, I wasn't sure where the story was taking me. But I wasn't disappointed! The plot is complex but exciting, filled with unexpected twists that kept me hooked. It draws you in and makes you want to solve the puzzle: where is the Pink Marilyn? What does it mean to each of the characters, and why are they so driven to find it? The movie does an excellent job of creating mystery without revealing too much too soon, keeping you on the edge of your seat. I appreciate how it steers clear of the usual story structure, letting the audience piece things together. The writing, combined with strong character development, makes this an experience where you actively engage and use your own detective skills to understand the deeper motives and hidden clues. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good mystery with a unique twist.

Unconventional plot, nice setting, good acting. Two hours well spent, definitely.

These actors all gained fame somehow twenty to thirty years ago and have all lost the plot both in their personal life (substance abuse, sexual misconduct, etc.) and with this attempt at filmmaking.

The story is highly predictable and when something surprising actually occurs, it makes no sense or has little to no relevance to the storyline.

The effects and makeup are just bizarre. I can't even be bothered to explain.

If you have some time to kill, watch something else.