Director: Patrick Brice
Cast: Taylor Schilling, Adam Scott, Jason Schwartzman, Judith Godrèche R.J. Hermes, Max Moritt, Sarah DeVincentis, Kyle Field
Certificate: TBD
Run Time: 80 minutes
Synopsis: After relocating to Los Angeles from Seattle, a 30-something couple and their young son have a chance encounter with a similar family who invite them over for a family pizza night that quickly turns into nothing like a pizza night once the children go to bed.
It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen an hilariously funny film where the laughs just keep coming, but thanks to Patrick Brice’s second directorial feature about two thirty-something couples ready to play when the kids hit the hay, the drought appears to be finally broken.
THE OVERNIGHT is everything last year’s SEX TAPE should have been: sharply-written, outrageously relatable to those of us in our dirty 30s and naughty 40s used to time sensitive sex romps thanks to pint-sized interupti-tots, and funny – it’s got to be funny. A night of 420 revelry, skinny-dipping, special Thai massages, and pussy drenching strip tease funny. Luckily, it’s not the twilight zone or the Hangover family edition – though you could be forgiven for thinking that judging from the room full of guffawing film critics I watched it with – now that’s a fucked up convo Kurt would be proud of.
From its opening sequence that may hit a little too close to home to the awkward morning after that occurs a week or so after family pizza night, Brice’s THE OVERNIGHT is a witty take on parental and sexual frustration that will have you laughing (and commiserating) with its characters and their honesty and embarrassment.
Having recently relocated from Seattle Washington to the eclectic, kale-slurping, yogalates hipster town of East Los Angeles, house husband Alex (Adam Scott) and his workaholic wife Emily (Taylor Schilling) are feeling a little isolated in the city and in desperate need of some adult interaction. Taking their son for a play in the neighbourhood park, TJ (T.J. Hermes) manages to hit it off with new playmate Max (Max Moritt), the son of the charismatically cool and over friendly Kurt (Jason Schwartzman). An entrepreneur and amateur artist, Kurt invites Alex, Emily and TJ over for family pizza night.
Graciously accepting Kurt’s invitation in an attempt to revitalise their social life, the evening starts out well as the two families bond together during dinner before things start to take an interesting turn once the kids become tired. Inviting TJ to stay over, Kurt and his bubbly French wife Charlotte (Judith Godrèche) subsequently put the boys to sleep to the lilting sounds of a musical performance by Kurt (another example of his many talents).
With the boys fast asleep, the comedic and emotional tempo and tone of the film is kicked up a notch as Alex and Emily find themselves in a battle between insecurities within themselves and their marriage and their sense of inadequacy amongst others. Unbeknownst to them however, is that beneath Kurt and Charlotte’s veneer of wealth and eccentricity, they are just as frustrated and insecure as Alex and Emily.
Whilst the couples’ adventures are laughably entertaining, it’s the performances and chemistry between Schilling, Scott, Schwartzman and Godrèche that really makes the film work. Schwartzman is a particular standout as the vulnerably charming Kurt and delivering some of the funniest quips in the film. It’s obvious that the actors are relishing their roles in THE OVERNIGHT and are having the time of their lives: their expressions are genuine and gleeful and engagements harmoniously fluid.
It’s an outrageously wild night in I wish I had an invite to.
A release date is yet to be scheduled for the UK.
