Review of Overnight (2003) by Joseph T — 04 Dec 2005

Here's a brief checklist of all the points covered in "Overnight".

- Troy Duff is a prick.

That's about it.

"Overnight" is the story of a man who, while making his first film, did absolutely everything wrong - except the film. As a documentary 'Overnight' is unsatisfying and unfulfilling, but the footage is too compelling to pass up - I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in the behind the scenes of filmmaking.

The entire film basically chronicles Troy Duffy's head spinning 180: over the course of two years he goes from being a conceded, hot headed, loyal, friendly, bartendin', beer swilling Bostonite to becoming conceded, hot headed, unloyal, unfriendly and almost offensively stupid (The film intelligently avoids acting as a "making of" and sticks to footage that, by and large, speaks for itself). By the end of the movie, Troy Duffy has pissed off everyone. Everyone. There's literally no one in Hollywood that wants to touch his movie because of statements he made to and about Harvey Weinstein. His band is gone, his friends are gone, his money's gone - basically the only ray of hope for Duffy is that, by this point, The Boondock Saints has become enough of a cult hit to merit a sequel and a possible second chance.

There's no denying the film is one sided. It's made by friends of his that were clearly hurt by his actions but, as I said before, there's no avoiding what's caught on camera. Take a scene where Duffy tells his band "You do deserve the money. But you aren't going to get it.".

My problem isn't with the footage that's shown. It's with the footage that isn't - there just isn't enough of it. It feels half made. Where are the original meetings with Harvey Weinstein? Where is Duffy's reaction? What's going on with "All Saints Day" (the supposed "Boondock" sequel)? What in gods fucking name happened after Duffy "raced to his apartment and armed himself"?

I'm dying to know more. But, as it doesn't seem like it started as a professional documentary, the movie does well with what it has, and gets its message across - one sided, or not.