Overnight (2003)
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 77
Fresh: 60 | Rotten: 17
This absorbing but wince-inducing documentary is a cautionary tale about the costs of hubris in the world of indie film.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 8
This absorbing but wince-inducing documentary is a cautionary tale about the costs of hubris in the world of indie film.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 4,161
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Movie Info
The megalomaniacal rise and fall of filmmaker Troy Duffy is chronicled by one-time friends and colleagues in director Mark Smith's documentary. The film takes its title from the "overnight success" that befell Duffy in 1996, when the then-bartender was signed by Miramax president Harvey Weinstein to direct his killers-on-a-mission-from-God script The Boondock Saints. Smith's cameras follow Duffy from pre-production -- when he battled with executives over casting and financing decisions -- on
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All Critics (78) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (17) | DVD (13)
A portrait of Hollywood hubris extraordinaire.
Top Critic[An] unflinching depiction of a would-be Tarantino turning himself into chopped liver.
A compulsive, cautionary tale about a man whose self-trumpeted 'deep cesspool of creativity' seems destined to remain undredged.
The story of the neither late nor great Troy Duffy would make the perfect film-school graduation gift.
In their rush to give Duffy his comeuppance, the filmmakers barrel past their movie's real potential, which could have been a blistering exposé of Hollywood's bandwagon mentality.
While the film follows Duffy's business disasters and blusterings, it never really offers much depth on either its central subject or his posse.
Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith's acidic, vitriolic takedown of Duffy boasts the abrasive intensity of a migraine headache and the depth and scope of a bona fide American tragedy.
Duffy's story is a potentially notable one, but this documentary's amateur production values and the man's grating personality make it not-so-enjoyable watching.
For Duffy, watching this film must be like seeing a scab peeled off
The "next Quentin Tarantino" crashes and burns
Enjoyable because you get to see a huge ego and shameless publicist get his comeuppence.
The two directors take so much abuse from Duffy throughout the film that you can't help but feel that Overnight is their long-overdue revenge.
Enjoyable because you get to see a huge ego and shameless publicist get his comeuppence.
A disturbing, sad and blisteringly funny cautionary tale, I reckon this is the documentary of the year.
...plays out like an 82-minute attack on [Troy Duffy] by a couple of exceedingly bitter ex-colleagues.
funny and mean
Overnight is horrifying and fascinating... It should be required viewing in film schools and a cautionary tale for anyone aspiring to work in Hollywood.
Troy Duffy might have truly deserved the Hollywood Blacklisting, but it's tough to live down an indictment as thorough as Overnight.
Audience Reviews for Overnight
Super Reviewer
A documentary on the rise and stumble of Troy Duffy, the bartender-cum-filmmaker who was swept up by Miramax's Harvey Weinstein to turn his script for The Boondock Saints into a feature film.
REVIEW
Overnight follows Hollywood urban legend Troy Duffy, a guy who went from bartender to the "next big thing" in the late 90s literally overnight with a prospective deal with Miramax for his cult script The Boondock Saints. Duffy was a member of a creative group who called themselves The Syndicate and two of the members were lucky (and smart) enough to document this period. They thought they were making a documentary about a unheard of rise to fame but instead chronicled the deranged dealings of an egomaniac unleashed. Some of the scenes in this movie are so cringe inducing (like nearly every frame Duffy is in). How a guy who has absolutely nothing to show for it can ramble on and on about how he is the impetus for all things positive happening and not to blame for anything negative is beyond me. How anyone listened to him after a series of self induced setbacks is even stranger. As the film progresses, the viewer is basically treated to a visual display of career suicide. Filmmakers Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith are interviewed on the disc and asked why no one ever took Duffy aside and told him he was ruining his big break. They answer that about midway through their experience that they decided the only thing salvageable from this destructive situation would be this documentary. They were right and this is an amazingly candid peak into the world of show business.
Super Reviewer
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