Movie Review: The Overnight

         The Overnight has been called the most subversive comedy of the year, and while I agree with the first part of that statement, I'm not sure I'd call it a comedy. Don't get me wrong; I liked it. The writing is smart, the acting is great, and the plot unfolds steadily and delicately into some uncharted territory. And while there are a handful of laugh-out-loud funny moments, I counted just as many of those in Terminator Genisys.

         As much as I enjoyed it, the film still has yet to gross half a million dollars. Fans aren't rushing to the theaters to watch it and theaters aren't rushing to pick it up, reason being that it defies any sense of genre. I would just call it a well-made film, but there's no category for that. It's not art-house and it's not a sex-party thriller, the way it was marketed. If I were pressed to typify it somehow, I guess I could call it a relationship dramedy. I'm pretty sure the soft-release didn't help with regard to box office sales. Most people didn't know when the movie was coming out or where they could watch it.

         The film offers an exploration of desire within the confines of a societal construct that heavily favors monogamy. The fact is, sex wouldn't sell so well if men and women didn't think about it everyday, all the time. But we do. We fantasize about it and, in the process of dating, we hope to make some of those fantasies come true. Eventually, we hope to find the right person to settle down with and that's it. Right? End of story. 

         That's where the movie starts: with a young couple (Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling) whose sex life is so routine that it's become mechanical. They're both still sexy and in their prime and they have everything they could've ever wanted to achieve. If they have any curiosity outside the relationship or the lifestyle they've worked so hard to maintain, they've kept it undisclosed and well hidden. Pretty soon, they meet Kurt (Jason Schwartzman) who invites them for a meet and greet with his wife, Charlotte (Judith Godreche), all with the ulterior motive of spicing up their love life.

                                                 

                   We all know the subject of the movie from the trailers. After all, the tagline says, "Get into the swing of things." But we don't know how far it goes or how long it'll take to get there. From the way it was advertised, I thought there would be some hardcore action within the first half of the movie at least. Instead, we get plenty of time to think about what it would take for a swingerish couple to get a couple of the non-swinging variety to even consider allowing someone else who is potentially more attractive and definitely more endowed to fuck their spouse. 

         Couples who watch The Overnight together might have something to talk about on the way home, and audiences in general will have mixed feelings over the film. But it is a good film and the actors do a great job of getting you lost in the many awkward and "expansive" moments along the way. I won't spoil the ending for the few people who are going to go out and watch this well-made, subversive dramedy (I shared the theater with all of one other person when I watched it), but I will say that: with everything you already know about the subject matter, you will be surprised.