Review of After Hours (1985) by Bryan T — 14 Jan 2009

Have you ever had a bad day. You know, a day that just moves from one catastrophe to another and it seems like no matter what you try fate has decided to defecate on you for a period of time. After Hours is a look at one poor processor's nine hours from hell.

Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) works in a typical, dull office in Manhattan living a life that real consists of get up, go to work, get up, go to work. It's a sad existence and he knows it. But one evening he meets Marcy (Rosanna Arquette) at a coffee shop and winds up calling her and setting up a date for late that night. Traveling to this date is actually his decent into the hell that he'll experience After Hours.

The story has poor Paul going from one bad situation to another such as being hunted by what can be described as a very active neighborhood watch group that thinks he's the local burglar. After Hours builds on each catastrophe as the film rolls on. Paul isn't an idiot either. Quickly he wants to go home and get out of SoHo. Fate takes care of that, too. The subway fares went up at midnight. Poor Paul.

Martin Scorsese delivers another classic New York film where the city is still a character unto itself. No other director can use a city so effectively as Scorsese. It's a silent entity watching Paul get pummeled by life in Griffin Dunne's great neurotic performance. After Hours isn't one of Scorsese's best films, but it's a look at how fate likes to screw with you.