The Overnight

Review: I personally found this movie more shocking than funny! It's about young couple, Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Shilling), who move to Los Angeles with there young son, RJ, who starts playing with a little kid in the park near there house. The father of RJ's new found friend, Kurt (Jason Schwartzman), introduces himself to Alex and Emily and he invites them to his house for dinner as they didn't have any friends in the area and there kids enjoyed playing together. When they get to there lavish abode, they meet Kurt's wife, Charlotte (Judith Godreche) and they all hit it off straight away. After a couple of bottles of wine, they put the kids to bed and then they smoke some weed, which makes Alex and Emily quite giddy and they start to do things that are completely out of character, like skinny in there pool and talking about Alex's, somewhat, small *. As the night goes along, more strange things start to happen between the couples but there friendship, mysteriously becomes stronger and they all face there fears after spending just one night together. I did think that the script was a bit far fetched but the performances, especially from Jason Schwartzman, was quite good. The whole bum/flower pictures were a bit weird along with the small * concept and when they started to get down to business, I did feel a bit uncomfortable. It was obvious that Kurt & Charlotte wasn't an ordinary couple right from the beginning of the film so I was surprised that they stayed at the house after feeling the weird vibe in the air. Anyway, I did chuckle at a few of the scenes but the movie wasn't that great. On the plus side, it's quite short so it doesn't drag on forever but I still was expecting more from this film. Average! Round-Up: We all know Taylor Schilling, 31, from the Orange is the New Black series but I doubt that people will remember her in Argo, Stay, the Lucky One or Dark Matter. Because of her commitments to the hit series, she hasn't had much success on the big screen and she seems to act the same in all of her roles. Jason Schwartzman, 35, doesn't take on that many roles but he has starred in some successful films like, Big Eyes, the Grand Budapest Hotel, Saving Mr. Banks, we're he put in a great performance, Moonrise Kingdom, Scott Pilgrim and the Darjeeling Limited. He was also great in Shopgirl and I Heart Huckabees, which is an under rated movie and he has come really far since his debut in Rushmore in 1998. I personally think that he does his best work when he teams up with Wes Anderson because his acting style really suits Andersons writing and direction. Anyway, this is the first major movie from director Patrick Brice who has only made a few shorts in his career. He wrote, directed and starred in a movie called Creep but I personally haven't heard anything about it before. I think that this movie went a bit too far in some of the scenes and the storyline wasn't that great but at such a low budget, the director didn't have that much to loose. Budget: $200,000 Worldwide Gross: $1.1million I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/mysteries starring Adam Scott, Taylor Schillng, Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godreche. 3/10

Greetings again from the darkness. For kindergartners, making friends is as easy as a bag of gummy worms on the playground. For adults, it's a bit more complicated. According to writer/director Patrick Brice (Creep, 2015) making adult friends can involve rectum paintings and * prosthetics … at least after a lot of wine and too many bong hits. While this is not my wheelhouse for humor, it's clearly a bold cinematic step and pushes the boundaries even further than other recent Duplass Brothers projects (they are Producers here). Emily (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Adam Scott) have recently moved to L.A. from Seattle with their young son. Emily and Alex are good parents, good people, and a solid couple – except for some sexual incompatibility. While at the park, their son (and his gummy worms) befriends the son of Kurt (Jason Schwartzman), one of the endless oddballs that populate L.A. Kurt charms Emily and Alex into visiting his home for an adult dinner party/kid playdate. Greeted at the door of the mansion by Kurt's French wife Charlotte (Judith Godreche), Emily and Alex are clearly wooed by the worldliness and sophistication of their new friends. Kurt is a bit of a renaissance man and he and Charlotte also appear to be a solid couple … though as the evening unfolds, we soon enough discover their own sexual incompatibility. And therein lies the core and conflict of the film – relationship dynamics impacted by sexual tension explored through raunchy humor. It's interesting to compare Brice's film with Paul Mazursky's 1969 "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice", and analyze the cultural and cinematic differences brought on by the 46 year difference. What was shocking then, is nothing compared to what this film has us believe that most young adult couples are struggling with now. Emily and Alex spend the evening exploring their boundaries as individuals and as a couple, while being softly pushed by the more adventurous Kurt and Charlotte. Were it not so raunchy, the theme would be more interesting … though significantly less appealing at the box office. All four lead actors are strong, but Schwartzman and Scott handle the more challenging roles with aplomb. Given my preferences, I could have used a safe word on a couple of occasions, but the real test will be whether audiences find the film a bold step forward, or whether it is judged to be shock for shock's sake.

The positives, it was short, now that could be a pun for the film or his dick. I have read other reviews and to give the posters credit they have taken a lot more from the film than I could, drama, darkness and a exploration of marriage in modern society. Unfortunately I simply did not get it, here was a film about a couple new to an area (California) and meeting a couple and going over for a meal which than drags on to what seems an never ending night. The acting is the sort of comedy acting unfortunately there is just no humour but some frontal nudity and some mild sexual scenes. The film could have gone several routes horror, serious but wanted to be a comedy but someone forgot to tell the script writer.

"The Overnight" (2015 release; 80 min.) brings the story of two couples. As the movie opens, we get to know Alex and Emily (played by Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling, respectively). Their young son busts into the bedroom as Alex and Emily are making love. The family is moving from Seattle to Los Angeles, and it's not long thereafter that Alex and Emily, in the park with their son, makes the acquaintance of Kurt (played by Jason Schwartzman) and his young son. They all hit it off and Kurt invites them on an impromptu pizza dinner at his house. Alex and Emily are delighted to make new friends so quickly, and eagerly accept. They arrive later that day at Kurt's mansion and are introduced to Kurt's wife Charlotte (played by Judith Godrèche). Everyone is enjoying themselves, and rather than ending the night early, the couples decide to put their sons to bed. At this point we are not quite 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out. Couple of comments: "The Overnight" is written and directed by Patrick Price, who previously brought us the horror indie "Creep", but importantly, it is executive produced by Jay and Mark Duplass as well as Adam Scott (who stars as well). The movie is a sex comedy that probes delightfully into the question of when things become uncomfortable, and as a result perhaps unexpectedly revealing, for a couple. And when I write 'revealing', you can take that also literally. Beware: there is quite a bit of nudity in the movie (including male frontal nudity--although I gather from the movie's end credits that it's all prosthetic), so if that bothers you, you are forewarned. As things become more weird, Alex and Emily wonder aloud "is this a free-wheeling California vibe, or a swingers vibe?", and we, the audience, wonder along with them. There are some great twists along the way that I obviously will not reveal here. All four lead performers are excellent and you will fully buy in to their respective predicaments. Kudos also for the excellent music placement in the movie. As the couples are enjoying the evening, the Sparks' excellent "Tryout For the Human Race" comes blasting on. I literally hadn't heard that song in forever, and brings back great memories. Other music includes Of Montreal and Julian Wass, just to name those. The movie appears to have been (partly) crowdfunded, from the looks of the endless list of thank-yous at the end of the movie credits. This movie made quite s splash at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and I had been looking forward to seeing it. The movie finally opened on a couple of screens here in Cincinnati this weekend. The early evening screening where I saw this at turned out to be a private screening, as in: I was literally the only person in the theater. I can't say that I was all that surprised, given that this is a talkie (no "action") about a subject matter that may not feel comfortable for some. I happened to quite enjoy this exercise in finding where a couple's comfort zone ends and where discomfort could spill out into even more. If you are in the mood for a racy comedy that is LIGHT YEARS away from your average Hollywood fare, you should give this one a try, be it in the theater, or eventually on Amazon Instant Video or DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

What might be an average French film, makes a spectacular American tale about love and friendship, and the lines that blur them -- that abstract thing we all seek, which is human connection and understanding, in a place free from judgment. Any open-minded and free- thinking person, who has experienced a lot, or maybe not lived quite enough but yearns for something more, should enjoy the emotional awakening experienced among these four thinking and deeply feeling humans. This is at the same time a story about the comforts of stability and the drawl of temptation; it is a seduction more of the mind, than the body, that drives these characters. Don't be fooled, sex has very little to do with what any of these people really are after deep down inside. They are not so different from the rest of us.

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

This is a wildly crazy fun film, full of over the top bizarre behaviors and antics. The Overnight is a special type of film that only a minute sample of people will truly appreciate; those people being of a similar wild and open to exploration type. However, whilst some things were a bit quirky for even my taste, the majority of the film sat very well with me as I invested myself in this truly engrossing film. Nothing was going to prepare me for this out there film. It feels like the creators took a huge risk with this one and it has become a film that really worked. Every stunt that seemed edgy was pulled off to perfection and the ending had something magical in it that will always leave a good lasting impression.

Banal Dialog, predictable storyline. The seemingly endless night depicted in this film leaves you asking, will the annoyance of watching to the end of the film also be endless? This movie dives quickly into full frontal scenes complete with prosthetics. The script feel like they copy and pasted from a multitude of other, but failed to full explore the themes that make those films good. Both couples in this film, go through the very commonly explored issues of trust and self-worth. At the end of the film, you are left with 1 or 2 chuckles and not a lot else. Waste of your time, Do not watch.

Yet another boring story about thirty-somethings who are straight but oh soooo curious. Another story about guys who struggle with what that means today. Can I kiss another guy? Can I jerk another guy off? Can I fantasize about another guy's * and still be straight? Can I? Can I? Please, Can I? Yeah, our kids are upstairs, we just met, but let's smoke dope and get naked and go to massage parlors and discuss male assholes and get you to be an asshole model and yeah, you've got a small * so of course both you AND your wife will want some of mine, etc. And what is with all the understanding? Why not call the freaks what they are and get your kid and get the hell out of there? But nooooooo. And not only that, we can still be friends can't we? SURE!!!!! Wasn't last night interesting? The kids really hit it off, didn't they? I'll call you. Okay. Pathetic.

This is one of those films where the less you know, the better. As an overall film it is incredibly difficult to judge in terms of its merits. The film is really its own creation and it beats to its own rhythm. The cast is very strong, and the film is surely entertaining throughout. Because it's so unpredictable, there's a certain joy to get from just wondering where it'll all go. For that reason, it's more of a film that will be a lot stronger on first viewing. I don't know how it'll really hold up on rewatches, but I suspect it'll lose a lot. I had a great time watching it, but I also don't know if to recommend it because I feel like many people (and I say that with emphasis on many) will hate the film and what it eventually becomes.