Overnight Movie Review:


“A cesspool of creativity”. So says Troy Duffy during Overnight, a documentary that follows his, and his friend’s journey, as Troy’s script The Boondock Saints is picked up for development. And that really does sum up our anti-hero.

And what a wild ride that journey is, as we follow Troy and his mates every step of the way though a funny tragic drunken expose of how the movie business really works. Harvey Weinstein at Miramax Pictures, who six months later throws it into turnaround, picks up the movie. Things rapidly go off the rails. Troy gets completely carried away by the experience, becoming an utter fantasist, control freak and at times paranoid delusional idiot.

The documentary is made by two of Troy’s friends, who were part of the whole experience with Troy, and his band that were also trying to get a recording contract at the same time as Troy’s picture deal. We get warts and all access to the entire process. No shrinking violet is Troy, being utterly self confident, and thinking every one is against him, even poor film students interviewing him, to much comedic, poignant effect.

The movie has lots of fun looking at the whole process of a first time director getting made, and is film geek heaven to watch. Once Troy gets his deal, its amazing to see all the actors such as Mark Wahlberg and John Goodman flocking round like locusts to get a piece of this supposedly hot new filmmaker.

But Troy fucks things up, alienating nearly everybody including his brother, who impassionedly, honestly tells Troy just what is going wrong, and just how much up his own arse Troy has went, Troy’s response is just insane, and shows how much of an idiot he is.

One must question however, is this only because Troy is an arsehole, or is this the way the movie business is for every new filmmaker? Does every hot new talent lose all sense of reality? Does a filmmaker have to be so utterly confident as Troy? This movie doesn’t set out to answer those questions, as this is their first attempt at a documentary. A more experienced team would probably have asked and answered more questions. But as a video diary of the trip that these characters take, it’s fantastic.

As a look at how not to make movies, Overnight is as good as they come. It’s pretty ironic too that this documentary is a success, after The Boondock Saints stiffed when it was eventually released at only five cinemas.

Gary Gray

The central character in this narrative documentary is so annoying that the film isn't easy to watch. It's about promising young filmmaker Troy Duffy, who signed a massive Miramax deal in 1997 on the basis of a feature script that was called "Pulp Fiction with soul". But Troy is so presumptuous, arrogant and self-centred that we almost root for his downfall.

Boston native Duffy moved to L.A. with high hopes for the band he formed with his brother Taylor and two friends (Clark and Jackson). Two other friends (Montana and Smith) document Troy's overnight celebrity, but from the start his abrasive personality causes trouble. Especially in self-congratulatory Hollywood. Troy's sure he can manipulate the system to gain money and stardom as both filmmaker and musician, but no one wants to work with this foul-mouthed, egotistical lout. His film The Boondock Saints flounders, while the record deal isn't doing much better. But of course none of this is his fault.

By the end, it feels like Montana and Smith have assembled the most vile footage of their former friend to make him look as bad as possible. But the fact is that it's all true--shot in the most private situations over the course of three years, during which time the film finally got made with a slashed budget (starring Connolly and Dafoe), was screened at Cannes and then found limited distribution. All of which hints that Harvey Weinstein was so annoyed that he simply buried the film. And you can't really blame him.

Further proof of Montana and Smith's fallout with Duffy (besides the on-screen shouting match) is that there are no clips from neither The Boondock Saints nor the band's poor-selling CD. The doc is extremely well-edited and intimately shot on a variety of film and video formats. It's also strikingly cautionary for anyone who thinks they're entitled to fame and fortune. As Troy relentlessly burns bridges and takes the credit (and cash) for everything, he doesn't realise that he's playing a game ... and losing. It's not that instant fame changed him; it merely brought out what was always there.

Rich Cline

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