AFTER HOURS
TAGLINE: What if that date you thought would never end, didn't?
NICELY DUNNE, MARTY
Before I get into Martin Scorsese's movie AFTER HOURS (1985); a story. I once worked with this guy Bob who liked Danielle, another employee. Bob expressed interest in her drawings, so she brought them in to show him. We all knew Bob couldn't give a shit about Danielle's drawings, but when he looked at them, he said things like "I can't believe how great these are!" and "You are so talented!" It was pitiful and transparent...and the same thing any guy would say to get into Danielle's pants. It didn't work for Bob. It rarely works, but we do it anyway, because all guys are Bob. All guys are Poor Dumb Schmucks. Speaking of which:
Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) sits in his unsatisfying job where he's training someone who actually tells him he won't be staying with the company much longer. When Paul leaves his office building, two custodians in matching jumpsuits close the gigantic gates behind him. It's as if he was released from Shawshank. Bromidic Paul needs to breakout, but as is well known, some inmates don't survive on the outside.
I've always loved Griffin Dunne. Maybe it's because he produced and had a small part in CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER, a sleeper film I adore. Or maybe because he and producing partner Amy Robinson were customers at the video store I worked at. Or maybe it's because he always gives just the right amount of acting, not too much, not too little. He was so much fun in AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and other movies, though I never did see his performance in ME AND HIM, where he plays a guy whose penis talks to him. How did I miss that? Never mind that, how did I not sue?
Roseanna Arquette was on fire from DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN out only months earlier. Her portrayal of Marcy is spot on. I mean, who hasn't known a ditz'n'damaged girl like this? Arquette must have, because she sure nailed it. It makes you want to scream, "Paul! I know you want to get some Marcy-tail, but...run!!!" CASTING NOTE: John Heard and Catherine O'Hara would later play Macauley Culkin's parents in HOME ALONE.
So much of AFTER HOURS comedy is dry and lo-fi, like when Paul suspects Marcy of being a burn victim only to have her enter seconds later holding a candle with a ridiculously high flame. Or when Paul goes to take the subway home and the subway clerk informs him that the fare went up at midnight and won't let him pass. Paul begs him, "Who'd know?" The clerk responds, "I could go to a party, get drunk, talk to someone, who knows?" Another great moment, towards the end, when Paul's just about given up on life. He puts a quarter in the jukebox, and seconds later, from the speakers in the empty bar - Peggy Lee's IS THAT ALL THERE IS?
If you ever wondered what it would be like if Scorsese made a student film, I mean, besides the student films he made when he was a student, this is your movie. It was, from what I've read and heard, exhilarating for Marty, whose AFTER HOURS experience confirmed that not every picture has to be a huge shoot with big budgets and even bigger actors.
Personally, I'd much rather see Scorsese make more movies like this instead of, well, anything he's made in the last 20 years (see my uncontrollable Scorsese rant here). A personal story where we get to watch things happen to an average guy, instead of Daniel Day Lewis with a funny mustache, DiCaprio with a funny accent, or De Niro with yet another gun.
Watching this movie again, 25 years later, made me realize how ahead of its time AFTER HOURS was. There weren't many films made with a character like this; an everyman sad sack who spirals downward, usually because of themselves. Perhaps Jaques Tati and Peter Sellers. But since then, we've had Steve Carell, Ricky Gervais, Larry David, and on and on. Not to mention the too many teen movies where a guy, trying to get a girl, gets himself into more and more trouble. I suppose the formula's been around since the caves, but for me, AFTER HOURS was one of the first ones to work so well. Maybe because instead of going for the laughs, they went for the tone. It's not a balls out comedy. In fact, the comedy is subtle and mildly absurdist.
I suppose it would be remiss of me to not mention the lawsuit AFTER HOURS got slapped with. From what I understand, writer Joseph Minion cribbed the whole set-up (first third of the movie) from radio personality Joe Frank's story called LIES. I don't know how this could have happened, unless Minion lied about LIES (he didn't...I think Minion's script was actually called LIES). Maybe he never thought he'd sell the script, and when he did, he never thought they'd make the movie. Or maybe he just never thought to tell anyone, and no one would notice. But Frank noticed, and although he still gets no writing credit, he's said to have been paid well (read: paid off).
AFTER HOURS is more than an all-nightmare of events. Like the night itself, there are things lurking out there that we never notice. This is what can happen when we step out of our comfortable (or dull) lives to pull back the Wizard's curtain.
By the way, remember my co-workers Bob and Danielle? Well, here's how that story ended. Bob turned out to be a major asshole, and I ended up going out with Danielle. The moral of my story is the same as the one in AFTER HOURS - Don't be a Poor Dumb Schmuck. Be yourself. Not Bob.
