Themes: Rise and Fall Stories, Filmmaking, Musician's Life
Main Cast: Troy Duffy, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Willem Dafoe, Billy Connolly
Release Year: 2003
Country: US
Run Time: 81 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
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 through to the lackluster release of the film. What's more, Duffy expected his relative cinematic success to translate over to his burgeoning rock band as well -- and the tension created by the presupposed deal caused him to alienate just about everyone involved with both projects. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Review
Rarely has a case of comeuppance been so satisfying. Troy Duffy's death by hubris, as captured in the documentary Overnight, is not just for sadists, nor for jaded industry types eager to see a colleague taken down a peg. In fact, Duffy's behavior is so unforgivably poisonous, it will assault the sensibilities of even the most unflappable viewer. Conceived as a celebration of Duffy's simultaneous breakthrough as a filmmaker and musician, Overnight quickly became a priceless record of an egomaniac imploding. As he steadily fritters away his opportunities, issuing power-hungry demands and insulting the Hollywood elite, Duffy is the essence of arrogance, so Overnight carries with it a sense of inevitability. The thing that's really wild -- and makes it a truly juicy failure of self-censorship -- is that before the film is over, Duffy also reveals himself as an ungrateful bully toward his friends and an anti-Semite. Director Mark Brian Smith and producer Tony Montana, who got a raw deal from Duffy when they were managing his fledgling band, could take the opportunity of this film to really pile on their former friend. Instead, they let Duffy dig his own grave, and actually present the footage in a sorrowful manner that suggests they pity him as much as they resent him. The film is a lot more absurd than it is funny, but viewers in search of a final punch line may want to see what all the fuss was about and rent The Boondock Saints. That failure alone would have disqualified Duffy from having a career. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Tony Montana - Director, Mark Brian Smith - Director, Tony Montana - Editor, Mark Brian Smith - Editor, Troy Duffy - Composer (Music Score), Mark Brian Smith - Cinematographer, Tony Montana - Producer
