Last Night (1999)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Don't listen to the negative reviews

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Easily one of the most thought-provoking, quirky, fantastically well-acted movies I've ever seen. And felt honest the whole time. Makes you wonder what is meaningful and what is sacred. All in an environment that appears to have no inherent meaning. Unique, for me, in it's approach to romance, which electrifies the film throughout. Takes one from wondering if it's a zombie apocalypse film to wondering about the essence of meaning. I'd die a happy man if I thought films like this were being made every day.

It's the last night on Earth. There are six hours left before an unknown calamity. Patrick Wheeler (Don McKellar) wants to be alone for the event but he has to go to a family dinner first. Sandra (Sandra Oh) is going home but her car gets trashed. Craig Zwiller (Callum Keith Rennie) has a series of women come over to his apartment.I think the movie needs to concentrate on McKellar and Oh. It would be more compelling to make this a buddy road movie. They could go to Wheeler family dinner, meet the various characters and go back to his apartment. I don't think Zwiller's story is that compelling. The other characters add some quirkiness but none of them are that compelling. It would be better to make these actors support the McKellar Oh story. This is an interesting different kind of apocalypses movie but I only enjoy parts of it.

Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" is certainly one of the greatest television series ever, and a 1961 episode titled "Midnight Sun" may have been the inspiration for this film. Or maybe not. But it immediately came to mind as I realized what event would bring about the termination of the earth in this movie.. In Serling's tale, the earth has slipped its orbit and is moving towards the sun, as the few people remaining in an abandoned city await the end in an increasingly hot environment. While this film doesn't have the psychological twist to its ending that "Midnight Sun" had, it does evoke the same sad, elegaic mental landscape of the characters. OK, so the science here is way off, but I think that may be part of McKellar's intention. He's less interested in telling a science fiction yarn than relating an allegorical memento mori to a stupefied culture.

Don McKellar writes, directs and stars in this dry humored drama dealing with the end of the world. Citizens of Toronto deal with the world's coming to an end at the stroke of midnight and new millennium. Some celebrate with violence, some vandalism; Patrick Wheeler(McKellar)suffers through a faux Christmas reunion. But he wants to spend that last moment alone in his apartment. Sandra(Sandra Oh)tries to get across town to commit suicide with her husband. A gas company employee(David Cronenberg)spends his time making courtesy calls. Craig (Calllum Keith Rennie)hopes to achieve sexual satisfaction with a special list of women...a black woman, a virgin and his favorite old teacher(Genevieve Bujold). Patrick finds Sandra at his doorstep wanting to use the phone. He tries to help her home, but as the final moments of time ticks, the two are pointing pistols at each other's head. I almost gave up on this film twice; but there was still something about it that kept me watching. Like a bottle of Scotch, LAST NIGHT requires an acquired taste.