The Melbourne International Film Festival, Reviewed
The best, the worst, and the weirdest of what's coming to Australian movie screens in coming months.
The Film With A Big Heart And A Bigger Prosthetic Penis:
The Overnight, dir. Patrick Brice
Starring: Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartman, Judith Godreche
Reviewed by: Meg Watson
Due to the inevitable press attention The Overnight received for its high-profile cast’s full-frontal nudity, it’s hard not to go into the film mentally preparing in the same way you would for a hen’s night — you don’t know when, you don’t know why, but at some point, you’re going to see a dick.
Of course, this is standard fare for the genre — when people are fucking pies, it’s safe to say anything’s fair game in American sex comedies — but what’s more surprising is how complex and genuinely affecting the story can be when working within that framework. In The Overnight, the sight of Adam Scott and Jason Schwartzman waving around their (prosthetic) peens for a solid five minutes is great. (It’s really, really great.) But what makes it even more enjoyable is the fact that it’s perfectly measured alongside honest insights on intimacy, body issues, sexuality, monogamy, parenthood, and kink.
The initial premise is clear fairly quickly. Young parents Alex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling) have just moved to LA and are on the lookout for new friends. After accepting a spontaneous dinner invitation, they find themselves flung into exciting territory with an enigmatic entrepreneur/artist/full-time hipster named Kurt (Jason Schartzman) and his equally mysterious French wife Charlotte (Judith Godreche). Carried by a faultless comedic cast, most of the laughs are made on the same point: this is less a dinner party than it is the increasingly absurd foreplay to an orgy, one that not all parties are clued in on.
Things escalate quickly — from the first moment when Charlotte’s hand reaches from out of shot to awkwardly lay on the unsuspecting couple, to the sight of Alex crouched on all fours excitedly posing for a portrait of his butthole — but the danger of one-dimensionality or uncomfortable predatory vibes are undercut by a number of welcome turns and diversions to the inevitable confrontation. Though the characters are given little time to grow or develop; they’re all sketched well and each divergent desire and problem drives the story in welcome new directions. And, as raucous as the flirtation is throughout, actual intimacy — physical or otherwise — is rendered with unflinching clarity.
Though just the second feature film for writer/director Patrick Brice, this is familiar territory for the film’s executive producers Mark and Jay Duplass. Both indie filmmaking royalty, the pair have most recently worked together on HBO’s Togetherness — an even more affecting study of sex and intimacy grounded in distinctly domestic circumstances.
The Overnight is exciting proof that these larger truths of life and love can be used to support more shameless comedy: the kind that wears its enormous prosthetic dick on its sleeve.
For fans of: Mark and Jay Duplass, Jason Schwartzman, Ben Wyatt looking very scared
Opening in Australia: TBC