just watch it!

Excellent, a Must See

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

"Overnight" has been described as the true-life story of a ballsy blue-collar independent film maker taking on a millionaire movie mogul tyrant. Guess which one you end up rooting for?Troy Duffy was a bartender with no movie experience. He'd never before written a script or even made a short. One day the millionaire head of Miramax Studios, Harvey Weinstein, strolls into Duffy's bar, buys a script off him and offers him $15M to direct the movie with his own choice of cast. "Overnight" Duffy was touted as the new Tarantinto. Stars flock to get drunk and hang out with him, hoping to get a part in the next "Pulp Fiction."Duffy asked friends Tony Montana and Mark Smith to document his rise to fame with a video camera. What they captured was arrogance the likes of which we've before seen on camera. If "Overnight" was fiction it would be dismissed as too over-the-top to be believable."Overnight" does however have flaws, in that there are many unanswered questions: Why did Harvey Weinstein sign an unknown quantity like Duffy? Why did Miramax suddenly drop him? Why do Harvey Weinstein and the actors never tell their side of the story?Montana and Smith have answered these questions in interviews, but they really should have included them in the documentary:In Hollywood just because a studio buys your script doesn't mean it's going to be become a movie. Sometimes they buy a script to stop another studio from getting it. Sometimes they buy on name alone. "Boondock Saints" is a great name, and some claim Weinstein hadn't even read the script when he bought it.It also depends on whether any big name actors show interest. Miramax sent their A-list star Ewan McGregor to meet Duffy in the hope they would hit it off and pair up. Instead McGregor returned disillusioned by Duffy's arrogance, drunkenness and inexperience. Although the documentary glosses over this, it was the turning point and from here it was all over: On top of Duffy's personal attacks, the questionable quality of the script and Miramax's own finances it was then Weinstein decided it was time to bail. Rather than being blacklisted, it seems no one wanted to work with him. But "Overnight" stays well away from this and leaves us scratching our heads. If anything, it looks like Duffy is being discriminated against because the Hollywood elite won't work with a 'First Time Director'. It would have greatly benefited if they explained what actually happened in-film."Overnight" does go very easy on Weinstein. Montana and Smith were in no mood to pick a fight with him and gave him an advance screening to let him know they weren't attacking him. Perhaps having seen it he felt there was nothing he needed to add?As for the actors we see almost nothing of, we assume they didn't sign releases to appear in the documentary. Actors aren't in the habit of criticizing their directors, no matter how deserved that criticism may be. Even Billy Connelly who has spoke about Duffy in public will only say the kindest of things. Montana and Smith said in interviews that the actors weren't impressed by Duffy's begging them to go out drinking with him, when their attitude was "Troy, we're trying to make a movie here." If they can tell us this in interviews, why couldn't they tell us this in the documentary?Montana and Smith said they decided not to do a "Making Of" documentary, but go too far the other way. We never learn why, despite Duffy having no experience at all, in "Boondock" he was able to turn in a relatively polished film. Is he a natural talent, or did the film's financiers parachute in an experienced production team to run the production for him? The question is never asked nor answered.Montana and Smith have been accused of being vindictive but given the way Duffy treats them on camera I think you can credit them with showing a lot of restraint. They said they left out many of Duffy's racist, sexist and homophobic rants. They also don't talk of Duffy's attempts to kill their documentary after his movie bombed at the box office and the record label dropped his band for poor sales.We are told it is bad to take joy in the failure of others, but Duffy makes this difficult. It's not so much his arrogance, but his appalling treatment of everyone - especially his "friends", and that he never admitted how things turned out is his own damned fault.The sad thing is that apart the film's financiers nobody did well out of the whole "Boondock" experience. Despite being known to Harvey Weinstein, Montana and Smith have been relegated to minor roles in the industry. Duffy's band never took off, and his actors never got their big break. Duffy himself couldn't land another job until he made "Boondock Saints II" ten years later. The sequel made a bit of money off the name, but reaffirmed that Duffy has no real talent. No good came of this, except as a morality play for the rest of us.There are many Troy Duffys in the world, but few of them are willing to show it on-camera. When Donald Trump does it you know he's hamming it up, but with Troy Duffy you get the real deal. For this rawness and despite its flaws "Overnight" makes compelling viewing. (If Montana and Smith decide to re-release this documentary with the missing material, I'll give them another two stars.)

This is the story of David and Goliath; except Goliath wins. (You didn't buy that story about the sling, did you?) David in this case is Troy Duffy, Boston bartender-turned cause celebre, after Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein snaps up his script, The Boondock Saints, in a promised multi-million deal. Amazingly, Duffy will also direct and his bad, the rubbishly-named 'The Brood', will score, having rush-signed with Madonna's record label. Trouble is, Duffy's ego is easily the match for Harvey's ("There is a deep cesspool of creativity here" he bellows without irony) and he soon, er, displeases Harvey, who dumps the project without a second thought. From this point on it's a study in psychosis: determined to get his movie made, Duffy the duffer alientates absolutely everybody (including the documentary makers) in the face of industry indifference. The punchline? Duffy's finished film is utter guff.

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.

never before have i seen such a tale of such talentless hangers on been so ungrateful that their golden goose has failed to lay. these spunk monkeys are parasites and bad examples of friends. i felt sorry for troy as he tried to hook up all of his friends with Hollywood gigs, but as soon as things turned sour, they all left troy hanging. overnight was a contrived effort of self indulgent retribution on a man who was going up against the forces of Hollywood to retain story integrity. The simple premise of Overnight is to try an communicate the message, "look at this guy, he blew it all", when in fact he has a strong underground following, dealt with harsh blows from friends and executives all in the name of getting a project done in the way he envisioned it. Quite frankly the only productive par that any of these guys played in the overall execution of the Boondock Saints shoot culminated as nothing more than extra bodies in the first bar room scene, after that all they did was whine why they weren't a bigger deal based on the clambering of their rancid efforts on top of troys shoulders. (the 2nd half of this was written by Adam j farina)