After Hours (1985)
Grade: 65
"After Hours" is a quirky black comedy. It is an endless series of events that don't completely make sense, but the director (Martin Scorsese) plays it straight, creating an ironic rather than surreal effect.
Griffin Dunne stars as an average guy who is trapped late at night in the Soho section of New York. Without any friends or cash, he is dependent upon the generosity of strangers. Unfortunately for Griffin, everybody he meets in Soho is eccentric, and his attempts to go home place him in increasingly bizarre situations.
The film begins conventionally enough: Boy (Dunne) meets Girl (Rosanna Arquette). The first clue that things are amiss is that Arquette's room-mate (Linda Fiorentino) is a punk sculptress. Arquette apparently has burns on her body, and has curious domestic troubles. Dunne soon encounters burglers Cheech and Chong, "beehive 1965" (Teri Garr), and numerous homosexual characters.
The Academy Awards passed on "After Hours", but Scorsese won Best Screenplay at the Cannes film festival. I guess that it is a credit to the screenplay that the film never loses its focus, considering that a half hour story has become a 96 minute movie. But Cannes may have honored the film more for its feel than its quality. Dunne's character becomes increasingly whiny, and the actions of the characters often make little sense. In particular, every female character that Dunne encounters takes a strong interest in him. If you are wondering how Dunne came to be cast for the plum role, it probably helped that he co-produced the film.
For Scorsese, best known for dramas starring Robert De Niro, this was his second black comedy in a row, following "The King of Comedy".
kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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