The romantic comedy Overnight now playing in theaters makes an attempted landing in laughter but comes up short of the runway. Although it has some surprisingly funny scenes, as a whole it’s a corny dud. Blame it on the script as I found no fault in the acting.
It’s Valentine’s Day and Jenny (Rachel Blanchard) has just broken up with her boyfriend in LA and jumps on a red eye for New York. It’s not the ordinary slide into your seat, pull up a blanket and take six hours of shut-eye. This trip has several love-damaged passengers all about to meet head on for a flight they’ll ‘remember to forget’. When Jenny finds herself eyeing a forlorn professor Tom (James D’Arcy), Tom trying to soothe rapper TJM’s (Gbenga Akinnagbe) ill fated romance, TJM dealing with his fear of gay terrorists, some very sexually emotional flight attendants and other bumps in the ride, things start to spiral out of control.
The premise of the film just didn’t work for me because it was very unrealistic. Setting a plot that involves romance and comedic interaction in several situations on an airplane doesn’t give much room for sensibility. The only way to succeed here is total craziness as in the film Airplane and it just doesn’t happen with Overnight. I can just picture writer/director Valerie Breiman struggling to get laughs from worn out gags like ‘mile high club’, a pilot with family problems, a prayerful co-pilot, flight attendants with attitude, a guitar playing professor, a carry-on dog, and other diversions.
The chemistry between Rachel Blanchard as the hapless Jenny and D’Arcy’s character Tom certainly could have worked on a better stage with a plausible story but the script just isn’t for them. Each giving their best shot is just not enough to carry the story to any enjoyable fruition.
There’s not much more to say about the film so I’ll just finish with the MPAA rating of Rated R for language and some sexual content. I did gasp one time during a scene involving the dog Kaz and get ready to do so if you go see the film.
FINAL ANALYSIS: See it only if you have no other entertainment options. [rating=3]
Additional Film Information:
- Cast: Rachel Blanchard, James D’Arcy, Anthony LaPaglia and Gbenga Akinnagbe
- Directed by: Valerie Breiman
- MPAA Rating: R for language and some sexual content
- Genre: Comedy and Romance
- Running Time: 1 hr 35 min
- Opening Date: South Florida – April 20, 2012
- Distributed by: Westchester Films
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
