Night Owls

source: Night Owls

The mixture of slapstick humour and seriousness isn't always blended that well. There is some good awkward realism though. The main guy is a beta-male dude who is generally well meaning despite being a bit fearful and judgemental. The girl is - I think - what they call a 'hot mess'. She mixes cynical and righteous anger with goofy wildness.

It takes a special group of talent to come together and say hey let's rip-off a classic film "The Apartment" and do it so painstakingly bad. Gotta give credit to the filmmakers for having the guts to try to rip off a classic with clearly absolutely no budget, but haven't seen a more boring rethinking of a classic since Gus Van Sant's Psycho.

Saw this for free on Netflix and want my money back. After twenty minutes, I wanted to turn it off, but thought it has to get better. After another twenty minutes, I almost fell asleep, but thought there must be something coming. Another 20 minutes later, nothing had come. Another twenty minutes later, I hated myself for not bailing after the first twenty minutes.

Normally not a fan of indie films. They're slow, ponderous, self-indulgent and artsy with really annoying piano or guitar scores. But every now and then a masterful one shows up. Night Owls is one of them. The director, Charles Hood is clearly a student of the classic "well made" films of the old masters. In this case, that old master is Billy Wilder and Night Owls is an updated tribute to one of Wilder's best ones, "The Apartment." Funny, poignant with absolutely terrific acting, this little indie is a definite must-see.

Disappointingly sloppy execution, really overshadows some decent performances in this low budget rom-com. Pally and Salazar display some decent chemistry despite predictable writing and stiff dialogue. Nonetheless, the movie just falls apart and doesn't deliver any punch. It's kind of a like a retro throwback to a 90's sitcom comedy or something.

Met Salazar a few years back so checked out the reviews for this film, and seemed overall positive and worth a try. After watching this mess though, I have to believe that all the "rave" reviews must be from friends and family of the people involved in the film, or from the people themselves. I can't imagine anyone being blown away by this one. It's watchable, but not very good.

This movie was recommended by a friend who knows I love Adam Pally, but despite a decent performance by Pally, I could barely get through this paint by numbers comedy. Typical formula with no surprises and when the movie tries to get serious it just jumps into melodrama. Some decent chemistry every now and then between Pally and his female lead, but overall nothing new to see here. Wouldn't recommend.

"Night Owls" is almost entirely a two-character play acted out (by Adam Pally and Rosa Salazar) over some ninety screen minutes in and around a millionaire's home while the rich guy and his family aren't around. I won't give away the details of this peculiar scenario. I will say, however, that this is one of the most blatant examples I have ever seen of a script and story orchestrated (and poorly at that) to manipulate an unlikely romantic partnering and then to inspire the audience to give a crap about the principles involved. Gotta say to ya Director/Writer Charles Hood and co-author Seth Goldsmith, with what you've attempted to manufacture in "Owls" you guys have given us two spectacularly sad people and then expected that we as an audience would root for them to get together. And then what? Become a spectacularly sad couple? I was just never moved to care at all. Or, more fittingly, "give a hoot".

Saw the reviews for this title, and figured it was worth a shot. Seemed like most people really enjoyed it, but I have to wonder what movie they were watching or how authentic all these positive reviews are. This is a very, very lo-fi / micro budget movie with somewhat charming writing, but that's about it. The cast gives it their best, but with only two real characters and literally one location for the entire movie, you quickly realize this is a premise movie that allowed the filmmakers the ability to make a movie for nothing and not much else.