After Hours: Review - I'm Just Not Seeing What Others Are

After Hours (1985)

Having seen this movie twice I can definitely say that I do not see where the praise it has received originates. While I enjoy the idea of a movie being set entirely over the course of one night and can appreciate the way in which every scene begins at the end of the one immediately prior, what happens within these shots and between the various characters in them is never compelling. The movie tries with all its might build momentum as our main character struggles to find his way home one night while being introduced to a frenzy of zany characters. The wheel of vapid stories could only spin so fast so as to keep up the illusion of a narrative such that after the audience is introduced to several of these strange characters they begin to lose any and all interest in their never resolved and increasingly cumbersome backstories.

I am sure I have already mentioned on my blog at some point the struggle I have when I watch a movie, which is held up as a classic, and fail to see what others have. I often revisit these movies over and over trying to discover something that I have missed to ensure I am not rushing to judgement which is what I feared I had done the first time I saw this picture and was unmoved. However, having pained through it twice now I can honestly say that there is nothing to miss.

One problem I may be having with this movie is that it is not what I expected in that the praise I had seen for it and the poster both led me to believe this was an extended adrenaline rush of a film with more of an edge to it. As such, when I finally saw it and realized that it is more of an over the top surreal comedy in the vein of something like Blazing Saddles I was perhaps more disappointed that it was not what I expected rather than a failing of the movie itself.

The movie has two strengths, Griffin Dune and the soundtrack. Dune, who most will know from his amazing performance in John Landis' masterpiece An American Werewolf in London, is amazing here at playing a man married to his job who must put up with frustration after frustration while trying to find his way home which seems increasingly farther away. His character arc in the film is also interesting in that at the start he is seen as someone who stays to himself and avoids risk as he is seen being coaxed into a conversation by Rosanna Arquette's character and avoids having keys dropped on him by Linda Florentino's character when he goes to Arquette's apartment. As the movie goes along and more people bend his ear we see a change in him such that he becomes the one searching for others to listen to him and goes so far as to put himself in dangerous situations in order to be able to talk to others. In terms of the music, Scorsese is the master at being able to find the perfect song to elevate a scene which he did wonderfully in this movie which is most noteworthy in one scene toward the film's end when Dune's character is seen dancing with a reluctant woman in a lonely bar and the song "Is That All There Is" by Peggy Lee plays reflective of a somber romanticism and nihilistic tone the film has acquired as it has gone on.

I struggle with movies that never seem to find their footing and just go along without ever finding a foundation on which to base their story. For that reason the constant changing of settings and unresolved plotlines were frustrating and made me feel reluctant to pay attention as investing my time and thought into such storylines felt pointless. Perhaps if these vignettes were more diverse or memorable on their own I would have forgiven the film for its unwillingness to invest more time in them and flesh them out but they all somewhat blend together. For much of the film Dunne is seen placating those he encounters to meet an end, whether it be reaching an intimate encounter or finding a way home, such that by the time he is on the run after he is painted as an outlaw in the strange surroundings he now finds himself in the audience is not overly sympathetic to him as he does not come across as a decent person but rather one who uses people and invades their privacy for his own peace of mind.

Lacking a main character who the audience is invested in undermines the film's bookending conclusion wherein Dunne is again shown sitting in the office, just as he had been at the start, only now covered in dust and downtrodden after an exhausting night. While I can appreciate the comedy in seeing him again at work as if he had not gone through a night of hell it lacks conviction since the journey we saw him go on felt less outrageous than it did convoluted. I am reminded of similar movies such as Superbad or The Purge where characters have one day to experience a litany of uncomfortable and terrifying things only to return to the mundane life they had been living only in those films the audience cares more for the characters therein and is better convinced of the surreal adventure they went on as compared to this film's mild plot.

This is all just my opinion, and many view this as a classic film from a visionary director. While Scorsese is one of my favourite filmmakers I cannot defend this picture as anything more than a precursor to better one night adventure films whose plot and characters lack impact which together culminate to form a forgettable experience.

Here is the trailer for After Hours: