Overnight

I purchased The Boondock Saints on DVD back in the summer of 2002 solely on word-of-mouth buzz from a few friends without so much as seeing a trailer for it, one of only two times I've done so. Like most guys, I liked it immensely and I too passed on recommendations to other friends. I consider myself a pretty avid film buff, so I couldn't understand why I had never heard of the movie's writer/director Troy Duffy beforehand. After some research I finally found a copy of Overnight, and after watching it I now know the answer to that question. This documentary captures with stunning insight and clarity the story of a man who essentially wasted a once in a lifetime opportunity by way of his incredible arrogance and profanely abusive personality.

If you were to look up "karma" in the dictionary, you would probably find a picture of Duffy with the definition. The story sounds too good to be true, mostly because it is. Here's a guy who was handed quite possibly the most incredible opportunity for a first time movie-maker in the history of Hollywood, and it managed to come crashing down before it even took off. A script for The Boondock Saints personally purchased by none other than Harvey Weinstein, a recording deal for his band and the purchase of the bar he was working in at the time making him a co-owner: all of these things were placed at his feet. Such an overwhelming reversal of fortune seemingly out of nowhere would be hard to handle for anyone, but instead of meeting the deal with gratitude and humility Duffy instead used it as an excuse to further inflate an ego that was apparently immense even before his incredible run of luck. Friends and family were verbally assaulted, complete strangers were subjected to vulgar tirades and members of his band were denied any credit concerning the group's record deal. In one of Overnight's more memorable scenes, The bands co-managers are told by Duffy that they don't deserve any of the band's profits because they were only there by his good graces and hard work. Through an amusing if not catastrophic series of events, the film deal with Miramax fell through, the band's contract was terminated before they even set foot in a studio and no other studio in Hollywood would even consider making The Boondock Saints. The dream, for all intents and purposes, was over.

Duffy eventually made Boondock Saints on half the budget offered by Miramax with a 5 theater theatrical release and the band's album was a resounding flop with less than 700 copies sold. The band's co-managers, once good friends and the co-directors of this film, originally set out to make a documentary of Duffy's rise to stardom but changed their tone drastically once he revealed his true persona. The result is a scathing and often startling glimpse into the downward spiral of a modern day Narcissus undone by his own greed and hubris. Plans for a Boondock Saints II release sometime in 2009 generated mixed buzz on the internet with many people stating the time for a sequel has long passed to have any sort of success. If the sequel does indeed become a hit, it will would be hard to attribute its good fortune to Duffy and perhaps even harder to not harbor jealousy towards him. As Overnight convincingly shows, it wouldn't be well deserved.

I saw this film at the San Diego Film Festival and consider myself extremely lucky to have seen it. The film chronicles the rise and crumble of Troy Duffy, temporary wunderkind. The film managed to capture the process of instant success and provide such a thorough window into one man's descent into his own ego. Duffy manages to ruin every single wonderful opportunity he is blessed with. He becomes a pariah in the film industry, a dirty word that even the munificent Harvey Weinstein won't touch. It is an incredibly intense, cringe-inducing film as you see Duffy unravel in front of the directors ever-present camera. Duffy uses the camera as confessional and it in turn captures his self-inflicted demise. It is a testament to the filmmakers ability that they managed to infuse the film with a palpable sense of pity for their subject. This film must be compulsory viewing for any filmmaker as a cautionary tale into the heart of hype, ego, and the fleeting love affair Hollywood has with the next big thing. Bravo gentlemen, you've made a great film.

If Bernardo Bertolucci, the director of TRAGEDY OF A RIDICULOUS MAN, had directed OVERNIGHT, he might have titled it COMEUPPANCE OF AN EGOTISTICAL MAN. That egotistical man is Troy Duffy, a bartender and aspiring screenwriter/director/musician from New England who became the star of his own real-life Cinderella story. THE BOONDOCK SAINTS, Duffy's original Boston-set script about two Irish brothers-turned-vigilantes, was bought by Miramax's Harvey Weinstein, who sweetened the deal by letting Duffy direct and score the film as well as buying Duffy's tavern. Alas, Duffy's cockiness proved to be outright arrogance as he began making demands before production began on either the film or the album, and this Cinderella Man's coach turned back into a pumpkin. Even Duffy's brother Taylor and his longtime friends come in for harsh treatment from the not-so-wunderkind, as he keeps expecting them to work their butts off despite their funds dwindling to the point that some of them are on the verge of being evicted. By the end of the film, almost all of The Brood Syndicate, as they call themselves, have gone back to the kind of manual labor jobs they thought they'd left behind once Miramax came calling, and Duffy is a Hollywood pariah. In addition to Duffy's egotism, his naïveté contributed to his downward spiral. Surely he'd spent enough time in L.A. at that point to have heard about Weinstein's tendency to snap up movie properties and then either put them in turnaround or leave them gathering dust on the shelf (didn't he ever pick up issues of VARIETY, THE Hollywood REPORTER, etc.?). Moreover, Mr. I Know More Than the Guys Who've Been in the Film Business for Years neglected to include broadcast and home video rights in his William Morris contract, so despite THE BOONDOCK SAINTS eventually overcoming its pitiful 5-theater release to become a cult favorite on home video, Duffy doesn't make a penny off it. Don't miss the Albert Goldman quote at the end about how fame doesn't change a person, but instead acts as a "truth drug" that reveals the person's true character. Granted, the directors of OVERNIGHT are two of Duffy's former friends from The Brood Syndicate, but they swear they actually left out footage that would have made Duffy look even worse. I suppose Duffy is lucky there isn't a Director's Cut of OVERNIGHT -- angry mobs would be chasing him down with flaming torches! :-)

When his script for action thriller The Boondock Saints got picked up by Miramax, Troy Duffy found himself going very rapidly from an unknown barman in West Hollywood to being the hot new property in the movie business. Not only that but his agency manages to use this heat to wrangle Duffy money for the sale of his script, the permission to direct the film and a recording deal for his band to work on the soundtrack; it is the dream opportunity presented to Duffy, his family and friends and it is his to embrace or ruin.

Having not seen Boondock Saints for several years I have not been able to review it but I do recall that it was OK without being anything that special. What I didn't know at the time was the story behind the film, which is far more interesting than the film and serves as a good cautionary tale about the nature of fame and Hollywood politics. Well, I suppose it is actually more about Troy Duffy himself and is more a warning about how you have to play the game to get ahead. It is a fascinating and depressing tale because it shows Troy going from captain at the start, to immediately going below decks and scuppering his own ship. There is a quote at the end of the movie from Albert Goldman about how fame is a revealer rather than a creator and indeed that is true in this case. At the start Duffy is pretty full of himself and being made the centre of everything just makes this worse and he becomes more and more of an arrogant pr1ck who treats everyone around him like he is doing them a favour and they should be glad to be in his presence – and this applies from Weinstein himself right down to Troy's bandmates. And this is the focus of the film – one man's shocking ability to take a goose laying golden eggs and p1ssing it all away.

It is fascinating stuff and it is hard not to feel anything but sympathy for Duffy's friends, some of whom struggle to pay their rent while Troy pockets $300,000 for his script. That he immediately sets himself above them and refuses to give them a break in the same way he got one is a shocking condemnation of the man. I suppose it is interesting to think how we would react in the same situation but it was hard for me to imagine being such a jerk as was shown here. It could have been a stronger documentary by bringing more insight into the political games played within Hollywood or the wrangles behind every film, but in fairness Duffy is such an architect of his won downfall that Montana and Smith just seems to let their material do the talking.

Overall this is not a great documentary but it is a fascinating one. It could have been stronger in regards insight and comment but it is rare to see someone so completely destroy a brilliant opportunity simply by the power of their own arrogance. For this alone the film is well worth seeing and is engaging and interesting.

There is nothing more enjoyable than watching a very mean and terrible person getting what he deserves. It helps me get up in the morning that complete jerks like Troy Duffy get what they deserve. He is an egotistical under talented sexist intolerant moronic alcoholic piece of trash that I have no sympathy for. He clearly did it to himself. Although I have to say this film was not well put together and carried on on some subjects too long it was very entertaining. It is amazing to see how much Troy Duffy thinks of himself. He is a jerk to his whole family especially his brother. I really cannot believe he is trying to get back into the industry with Boondock Saints 2. Poof!