Late Last Night

Entertainment attorney Dan (Emilio Estevez), his marriage apparently over, storms out of his Beverly Hills home, thus giving his wife a chance to load her belongings into a hired U-haul and leave him.He forgets his car keys. First mistake in a town where no one walks. Dan isn`t street-smart:leaving the safe cocoon of his marital home and the relative security of his Mercedes behind, it soon strikes him that LA, all the more poignant as it`s the Holiday Season, can be a very lonely place.All his pre-married-life pals have moved on..afterall he didn`t need them until now. The only one available is Jeff (Steven Weber), a super cool night creature who takes desolate Dan for a night on the town that he`ll never forget and turns out to be a decidely off-white knight in shining armour. LATE LAST NIGHT is a very bizarre tale, yet at the same time strangely captivating, unnerving and spellbinding. The crazy world of Hollywood after dark, barely stands still and Dan is whisked through an increasingly outlandish world where anything goes. The constant changes of pace and scene are important, making the audience as disoriented as Dan. Encounters with transvestite hookers, coke whore strippers, drug dealers and dopers might be a normal night out for Jeff, but not so for Dan, who has problems `fitting in.` As the all too laid back and mysterious Jeff, Steven Weber is excellent. His character is a total contrast to Dan, who is at one time rather unkindly described as `nerdy`. Jeff makes all the right moves and says all the right things and Weber plays him with sardonic confidence. However it is Dan to whom we want to reach out, give a protective hug and send him swiftly back to his wife. We desperately need him to see that this underworld of booze, drugs and whores, where the word relationship doesn`t exist is not where he will find the answers to his problems. Even Jeff, who seemingly has no job and has never had a lasting relationship to speak of, is envious: in reality he craves what Dan is in danger of throwing away. The need for love as opposed to sex, is cleverly played out in the music, especially when Jeff and some party people burst into a rendition of Queen`s `I need somebody to love...` This is a highly memorable scene and we are left wondering if this really is Dan`s marijuana initiated hallucination or can Jeff be letting out his innermost feelings? Emilio Estevez steals the sympathy because he makes us feel Dan`s confusion, pain and loneliness. We can identify with his faults: he works too hard to maintain a lifestyle at the high cost of neglecting his marital relationship. That`s why in her parting note, his wife tells him she doesn`t know him any more and it`s a sad fact of 90`s materialism. Probably the most underrated actor in Hollywood, Estevez is always at his best when his characters, like Dan, have an excess of nervous energy to expend. Often they find themselves in situations beyond their control -remember Andy in The Breakfast Club, so cautious and quiet until he cleanses himself of his guilty detention secret, or the wary punk, Otto in Repo Man ? As the over zealous Billy in Young Guns he excelled, forcing us to truly loathe ourselves for rooting for him and lately as the edgy, disturbed Vietnam Vet, Jeremy in the War at Home, we know virtually from the first scene that this young man is a walking time bomb.

Late last Night carries the audience along in a surreal haze of drugs and sleaze where everyone does what they want, with whom they want. As for Jeff, I am not entirely convinced of his existence. Was he really Dan`s alter ego as suggested by the police shrink ? Or even his Guardian Angel sent to show Dan that a loving, secure relationship is not worth trading for a lifetime of loneliness. Dan finally realises that what he wants is back in Beverly Hills loading a U-haul and he has to stop her. We can only surmise to where Jeff has returned. Fairy Tales are meant to have happy endings, but this time we are left to draw our own conclusions as to whether Dan gets a second chance. Give this movie ago the next time its shown , or when it comes out on video. It has it`s faults, but is better than some theatre releases I`ve paid to see latly. The performances are great and Steven Brill`s gratifyingly different story and direction are spot on. It`s well worth a night in with a few drinks lined up...to soak up the atmosphere !

What a surprise!!! Just when you think you have this one

figured out...you are wrong!!! Watching these guys go out in LA

is enough to make anyone happy to be home, safe away from the

freaks!! I laughed throughout and was caught off guard by the

honest, yet often ugly, reality of growing up and letting go of

old friends and habit

This is a really great film, and it's kind of shocking, it being a straight to video release (tho its actual first release was on Starz!=.) The film stars emilio as a man who is in the middle of having his wife leave him, and he turns to anyone he can find. After calling up a number of old friends, he gets in touch with Jeff who takes him out on the town. The story is well drawn out, and it never gets boring. I love the nighttime scenes, and the photography in this movie is gorgeous. Thru the night, they meet drugged up hookers and spend time with them, they spend time at a very weird party, they golf in the middle of the night, and emilio's character gets arrested. It's a wild movie, and the tone keeps changing. One second they're at a crazy party, and the next they're discussing philosophical things while playing golf under a star filled sky. It works really well, and the changing tones is a big reason this movie is so great. It's hard to explain, but for me, it's one of those movies that mix tone and the beautiful night scenes and music together so well it gives you this weird feeling of peace. Maybe I'm losing it, but I always feel somewhat peaceful when I watch this movie. It doesn't get much better than this. 10/10

This is a deeply insightful film that many people are probably not going to "get" fully, as evidenced by the other reviews here!

I almost didn't choose to watch this film, because I wasn't in the mood for another wild romp about decadence and the fun of partying. However, it doesn't merely follow the main character on a crazy night of adventures, but it shows how fate guides us down the proper path through those around us if we'll just listen. It's also a kick-ass love story.

The drugs issue in the movie is well done too, showing the good and bad sides of drug use and abuse. Some drug use can open up doors towards enlightenment (though the government doesn't want you to find that out) while an addiction to cocaine can become a life-wrecking nightmare.

The script is beautifully written, and even the most bizarre characters in the film are rendered with compassion and wit, each giving insight into another aspect of humankind. This film is definitely too literary and bizarre to be embraced by the American mass market, but I loved it.

This movie was a big surprise -- straight to TV, misleading previews -- I didn't expect much. But it is a sly wickedly humorous tale of Dan (Emilio Estevez) who thinks his marriage is falling apart, contacts an old friend (Bobby Edner) and goes on the town for an increasingly disastrous night out, involving stolen cars, fast girls who turn out to be strippers, various dangerous drugs, and eventually arrest. On the way there are some eyepopping scenes involving sinister people in off-limit night clubs, and an over-the-top choreographed lip-synch to Queen's "Somebody to Love". Dan is lead on in all this by the Stranger Danger Kid, who is every mother's worst nightmare. After his arrest Dan is interviewed by a psychiatrist (Diane Lane) in a hilariously off-the-wall performance, mixing sympathy for the victim with an icy payoff. We are left wondering if perhaps the dangerous friend is real or an alter-ego leading Dan out of his straight life down the path he secretly wishes his life had taken. A game of golf in the dark with the dangerous friend, using a stolen Cadillac as a buggy, leads Dan to the realization that his life is good and that he wants to make a go of it with his wife.

Altogether a clever and witty film with many interesting surprises along the way. The ending is a little soft, but anything else would have been just too edgy.