Overnight (2003)

Wonderful character development!

Sadly Over-hyped

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Some of the best documentaries are made almost by chance, where a bunch of unwary filmmakers stumble across a fantastic narrative unfolding. Overnight falls into this camp. Most likely when they started filming Montana and Smith weren't planning on anything but a glowing biopic on their friend's rise to fame, hopefully elevating them along with it.What they got instead was a compelling film about a man who was handed his dream and lost it because of ego and hubris. There are times when Overnight is just uncomfortable to watch, as Troy Duffy alienates everyone around him and becomes more and more reliant on his vastly overrated sense of his own talent. At first he's almost sympathetic, being screwed over by the Hollywood system, but this only seems to aggravate his bitterness and aggression.Stylistically speaking Overnight isn't the best movie: Duffy's descent perhaps starts too soon, leaving us to spend most of the film in the valley of desperation, and at times it can get hard to tell all of the badly-dressed white guys apart. But it's a compelling narrative despite everything else, and the perfect film to watch if you want to see an almost Shakesperean self-destruction.

I have to admit that I liked "Boondock Saints." I liked it because it was a Tarintino without the pretense that because you can engineer violent irony, you can make it engaging. I liked it because I knew that every actor was making up everything with no guidance. I liked it because it was a story of a mess that driven by the mechanics of messness, and that mechanics was visible as the point.Now here, we have the equivalent of "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse." Except this time the genius at the center is a moron who thinks he is a genius. There is a complete contrast from the attractive, nonsensical mess of "Boondock" and the grinding inevitable sense of this: jerk gets his due. It is simply a matter of watching the predictable grind through, with the only mildly interesting elements being a small glimpse into the movie business world. More interesting is the fact that we are watching something. We know that the band deal went sour. We know the movie deal did too. The documentary documents that. But it does not document itself. It turns out that the making of it was part of the deal, first supported out of pride and then out of sheer desperation for some money. The omission of the thing from the thing is glaring, and quite hypnotic.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Wow.It's stunning to see how success or more accurately, potential success, can turn someone into even more of a buffoon than they may already be. This documentary revolving around the explosive rise and equally explosive fall of director Troy Duffy ("Boondock Saints") who hit it big with the sale of the Boondock Saints screenplay to Miramax is easily one of the most stomach turning examples of vanity eating its host and rearing its head like some karmic Godzilla. It's really disgusting to see Duffy literally squander the opportunities that came his way, opportunities that many on this planet don't even come close to breathing on as they drive past. This fool had the kind of deal you read about in a fantasy story where devils are involved, except this guy didn't have to trade in his soul. I've met this kind of guy in film school, the type that believe that they're more creative than anyone else around them and it's just as enjoyable to watch this guy crash and burn just as it was with the big-talkers and egomaniacs back at school.Though the question remains as to whether or not this was really just a big smear piece by the film's co-directors (I mean let's face it, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility when you take into considering the verbal lashings and mental abuse administered to them by Mr. Duffy himself), the fact that Troy Duffy is nothing but a complete jackass still lays bare for you on the screen for you to stare at in wonder. No matter how this film may have been cut, no matter what may have been left out as opposed to what was left in, the fact remains that Duffy sank his own ship with his caustic persona and idiotic decisions and didn't even bother to get out the life preservers for him or his crew. This was a very enjoyable and well done documentary even though it was kind of tough to watch in a way. It's a perfect cautionary tale for filmmakers and artists alike.RATING: ***1/2 out of *****.P.S. And in the end, Boondock Saints wasn't even worth all the fuss.

"Overnight" was the most painful film I've watched. I was given the sense that I was watching something that I wasn't supposed to... From what a got from the "syndicate" that had to be subjected to a personality of delusional dimensions, it was a painful experience for them as well.The "experience" was the Troy hurricane, a firework that goes up with so much fanfare and noise but fades out. Throughout the film, the viewer gets to be seated shotgun next to Troy who is never at a loss of colorful words and opinions that only further damn him as the film develops. This was a film about a man digging his own grave and spitting on everyone that cared to listen. If Troy had a gentle moment, it was edited out. Does he have a gentle side? His burliness is tolerated by his own family and friends (barely). In the thin aired space of intimacy with Troy taking up all the resources and reminding everyone to thank him, I was uncomfortable watching for his inevitable demise. We have the filmmakers to thank for sitting in the hot seat and rolling the cameras.