Review of The Overnight (2015) by Campbell P — 25 Jan 2016

A movie like The Overnight would never be a mainstream release because of its unique absurdness and that's honestly a big compliment. This film follows the story of couple Alex and Emily, who are new to Los Angeles and trying to start a new life by making new close friends in their new environment.

While at the park, their son runs into the boy of other Los Angeles couple Kurt and Charlotte. They immediately hit it off and get invited over by Kurt for a dinner at their beautiful home. What they didn't expect is that they were in for the weirdest night of their lives.

To start off, this movie is WEIRD. It's extremely peculiar and it embraces it because I enjoyed this film a good amount. The performances by Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman, and Judith Godrèche were stunning.

Their performances, and the whole movie kinda reminded me of the movie Drinking Buddies. The friendship that the two couples spark is visible and felt really real, just like all the characters that worked in the brewery in Drinking Buddies.

What differs in this movie is that the characters of Charlotte and Kurt felt super cartoony and unreal. It was funny to see what weird things they would do which is what this movie is all about. It's not meant to be taken seriously all the time, but when it is serious it's really interesting.

It's one of those comfort movies where the characters have real conversations and I couldn't help but be fascinated by it. There's boundaries that get crossed and things that are done that are totally absurd, but they manage to stay relevant to what the movie is going for.

There's a really great scene where the couples are in a hot tub and they have a ridiculous conversation about self confidence that was goofy but made me think too. The weird couple had a lot of odd wisdom that I found really interesting for some reason I don't know.

The major flaw to this film is that there's no definite flow at all points throughout the film. At one point they talk about being yourself and then the next scene it becomes a focus on the trust in a relationship and then they get stoned again.

There wasn't a good enough organization to the plot line that separates me from calling it an above average film. While all these themes were cool to watch wrap up, they seemed all jumbled up and felt kinda awkwardly delivered.

The direction is kind of to blame for that but the director has only made two films at this point (the other being the horror film, Creep) and is still a beginner. I gotta give it to him though because this film felt kinda personal to him in a way.

The Overnight is a fun, unique time but is held back from being very memorable due to its sometimes intense weirdness and awkward flow. B-.