Sundance: Inhibitions Are Abandoned in "The Overnight"

Michael C here to chime in on a film that has people buzzing in Park City...

Patrick Brice's The Overnight is one of those long night of the soul movies where things start out with dinner and laughter and then the characters drink and smoke away their inhibitions, repressed feelings bubble to surface, and the mood edges into the surreal as the night creeps toward sunrise. As soon as we spot the inviting blue glow of the pool we know some time around midnight the clothes are coming off and the characters will pass a point of no return...

The question is how far are the filmmakers willing to escalate events. Around the two thirds mark The Overnight seems primed to go over-the-top and transform into something truly out there, but it steps back from brink. The film is mildly daring in its willingness to directly address a few sexual taboos, but the refusal to really go for broke keeps the film treading water in the shallow end of the pool with a series of minor revelations.

The film is set in motion by the situation all parents must endure: being forced to socialize with other parents solely because your kids made friends. We first meet the parents played by Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling as a pair of button-downed normies who are new in town and have yet to make any friends. A glimpse of their sex life is full of red flags which they have an unspoken agreement to ignore because who needs the bother of getting to the bottom of that mess. They consider themselves lucky when they meet a set of parents who actually appear pretty cool. They are played by Jason Schwartzman and french actress Judith Godrèche.  Sure this new couple seem a bit off, but hey, that's Californians for you. The adults arrange a play date / opportunity for the adults to get sloshed, and we're off to the races.

The best part of the movie is the middle section where the game cast keeps things humming at an energetic clip, and we wait for the other shoe to drop as warning signs pile up that the hosts have more on their mind than getting-to-know-you conversation. This is when we get the already notorious appearance of Jason Schwartzman's "giant horse cock", as Scott's character calls it. The appearance of said giant penis presses all manner of buttons in Scott and Schilling and the movie delights in "going there" when it comes to dragging the couple's most buried insecurities out into the open, if you follow me.

Cast & Crew at Sundance

A wave of disappointment hits when you realize The Overnight is going exactly where you expected it to go. Underneath the eccentricity the hosts are revealed to be just another married couple with their own issues to work through. The film's messages are simple: get over your hangups, suppressing urges is bad for a marriage, open-mindedness is good. Even if its big finale is not quite as daring as it thinks it is, it is still a bracing moment which has been honestly earned and somehow even manages to be a little sweet. If the filmmakers had found a way to kick The Overnight into another gear it had the pieces in place to be something special. Instead we get a film that is clever and amusing and has flashes of insight, but which remains forgettable. 

Grade: B-

Comments

[Henry]

I'm sort of over this film already. The press reports of the Q&A have left a rather poor taste in my mouth and swinging couples is so Penthouse 1972.

[Hayden W.]

Taylor Schilling is such a gift to us all.