Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Movie Review: "The Overnight" (2015)

Movie"The Overnight"
Director: Patrick Brice
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 19 minutes
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Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling) have just moved from Seattle to Los Angeles with their little boy RJ (R.J. Hermes). They take their son to another child's birthday at a local park and hope to meet new friends in the city. At this park, they meet Kurt (Jason Schwartzman), who is there with his little boy. Kurt is very outgoing, and since their kids are getting along, he invites them over to his house for dinner. At this dinner, they meet Kurt's wife Charlotte (Judith Godrèche), and as the evening moves forward, it increasingly turns into a night they will never forget.

Before this film came out, we hadn't heard much about it, let alone seen any promotion or a trailer for it in our area. The only reason we knew it existed is because we saw Jason Schwartzman and Adam Scott on Conan O'Brien's talk show last week, promoting it while they got checked on live TV for lice. Needless to say, we didn't know much about it going in and didn't know what to expect, other than it has been labeled a "sex comedy" including full-frontal male nudity and some prosthetic penises. Adam Scott plays Alex, who is married to Emily, played "Orange is the New Black" star Taylor Schilling. They are a long time couple and Alex is the only person Emily has ever been with intimately. At the park during a child's birthday party, they meet Kurt, played by the hilarious Jason Schwartzman, who is very forward and invites them to his house for a pizza dinner. Since Emily and Adam are looking to meet people in L.A., being new to the city, they reluctantly agree and expect it will be a boring, short evening. Upon arrival, the pair meets Kurt's wife Charlotte, played Judith Godrèche, and the two couples seem to hit it off and have a great time. It's when the their kids get tired and Kurt and Charlotte suggests they put them to bed and continue their "night of parental bliss" that things begin to get weird. The night turns to heavy drinking, lots of pot smoking, and some bizarre, awkward conversations and moments. Many of these conversations and moments are heavily sexual in nature. That is what the comedy in this film is about: the awkward, uncomfortable feeling we are conditioned to feel in our society when people talk about sex, especially such weird, graphic and out there sexual content. It's certainly enough to make you laugh, but it's also enough to make you feel a little/a lot of secondhand embarrassment as well. Quickly, you're put into the same situation as Adam and Emily, as you start to think, "how would I feel and how would react if someone wanted to show me their paintings of various buttholes?" "How would I feel if a couple I had only known for less than a day wanted to go skinny dipping with me and my husband?" While the situations are out there, we're sure they do happen in one capacity or another, and they more than likely take place here in California.

As we mentioned above, there are quite a few scenes of male full frontal nudity, and though the penises on display are prosthetic, it's enough to make some people squirm with discomfort. "The Overnight" seems to have one mission: to take its audience out of their comfort zone, and in this quest, it is very successful at being unsettling and bizarre. Jason Schwartzman is very good at acting this type of forwardly awkward, as is Adam Scott, who we believe could be best friends in real life. It's nice to see Taylor Schilling getting more work outside of "Orange is the New Black" and she does an excellent job at being both a reserved, cautious mom, and a wild, shocked and yet slightly nagging wife. This movie offers quite a few laughs in a short amount of time as it is only 78 minutes long, which we think is good because it could have potentially drifted into grating territory after much more awkward tension and sex jokes. Anything produced, starring, or directed by the Duplass brothers we have been sort of hit or miss on, but this is a rather new-aged, inventive comedy that gets relatively straight to the point. It's not for the faint of heart or those who disagree/dislike movies about the swinger lifestyle, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

My Rating: 7/10
BigJ's Rating: 7/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 82%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?

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