Style Weekly
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Rental Unit: "Overnight"
Duffy, elated by his astonishing success, started to believe more than luck was involved (luck in this case was a friend who got the script read). Perhaps he had a knack for deal-making and power-brokering. He flexes his new Hollywood muscles with a mortifying false sense of confidence, decreeing that Ethan Hawke is a talentless fool and calling Kenneth Branagh the c-word (behind their backs, of course). In hindsight, someone should have told him that it's not a knack for power that rules Hollywood but actual power, and in Duffy's case the actual power rested with Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein. Duffy, swaggering with hubris and fueled by Jim Beam, decides to take on that power. What follows is not for the squeamish.
In the vein of Ondi Timoner's recent music doc "DiG!," the real-time, fly-on-the-wall style of "Overnight" recalls reality TV. But also like "DiG!," it never feels staged or exaggerated. These two filmmakers, Smith and Montana, are the real success story, amazingly saving themselves from a sinking ship and salvaging a quality piece of work. Their ultimate motivations could be considered suspect, since Duffy applies his knack to them enough times to instill bad blood. But it's hard to see this as a revenge piece. Given enough rope, Duffy seemed bound to hang himself whether a camera was recording it or not. — Wayne Melton
In the vein of Ondi Timoner's recent music doc "DiG!," the real-time, fly-on-the-wall style of "Overnight" recalls reality TV. But also like "DiG!," it never feels staged or exaggerated. These two filmmakers, Smith and Montana, are the real success story, amazingly saving themselves from a sinking ship and salvaging a quality piece of work. Their ultimate motivations could be considered suspect, since Duffy applies his knack to them enough times to instill bad blood. But it's hard to see this as a revenge piece. Given enough rope, Duffy seemed bound to hang himself whether a camera was recording it or not. — Wayne Melton
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