'The Overnight' (2015) Forces "George and Martha" into a Modern-Day Sex Comedy--An
- amandagreer22
- Jun 26, 2015
- 2 min read
Few films better capture the complexity (and the torment) of long-term marriages than the late Mike Nichols's adaptation of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). In the film, a middle-aged married couple -- George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) -- invites a pair of newlyweds to their house for late-night drinks. However, ol' George and Martha have a few tricks up their sleeves, and effectively emotionally torment the younger couple until they become slobbering drunk messes forced to confront the superficiality of their relationship (aka this was a real fun party).
It also features Queen Elizabeth Taylor vamping with the best of 'em
Now add a "Thai massage" and a couple of prosthetic penises and you have The Overnight.
Writer/director Patrick Kack-Brice takes his audience on a (hugely uncomfortable) 80-minute journey that takes place over the course of single evening. New to L.A., young parents Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling) meet and hit it off with eccentric, wide-brimmed hat-wearing Kurt (Jason Schwartzmann). He invites Alex and Emily over for dinner with his wife, Charlotte (Juliette Godreche). The two quickly accept, desperate to make "grown-up friends." The dinner starts off well, but as the wine flows and inhibitions fizzle out, Alex and Emily soon realize that Kurt and Charlotte's friendship might be a bit more than they'd bargained for.
In other words, they come to realize that the "hipster Amish" look should have been a warning
I don't want to give anything else away, because the joy of Kack-Brice's film is the constant stream of surprises flung at the viewer's face (like two differently-sized prosthetic penises). All I will say is that Kurt has some rather strange hobbies, including photographing and painting a very intimate body part.
Three guesses which one!
Kack-Brice really should be commended for his warped sense of humour. For a film under an hour and a half, by its end the audience will undoubtedly feel just as exhausted and baffled as Emily and Alex (and probably just as dirty). Kack-Brice realy does drag his audience along for the ride, through thick and thin, hot tubs and gloryhole-riddled massage parlours.
Taylor Schilling realizing that Litchfield
Prison is tame compared to this shit
While The Overnight is hugely memorable in its sex gags and butthole artwork (did I mention the prostetic penises?), it ultimately falls short in its narrative organization. Over the course of the film, the four protagonists express pent-up resentment and/or sexual attraction towards each other, but their character growth ultimately feels artificial and a little forced. It's hard to judge the film on this point, though, because The Overnight is not trying to be a Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?-esque melodrama-- it's a straight-up comedy aimed to shock, gross out, and cause laughter.
And for that, it's hugely successful.
I give The Overnight 3/4 Prosthetic Penises
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