Harvey Weinstein may suck, but according to Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith’s hot documentary Overnight, Boondock Saints director Troy Duffy sucks harder. After Pulp Fiction, Weinstein was looking to cultivate another Quentin Tarantino, so when the Miramax honcho offered Duffy a million dollar contract and a $15 million budget to produce Boondock Saints, the deal turned Duffy into an overnight success. Pieced together from footage Montana and Smith shot of their former friend during the late ’90s, Overnight documents how this success quickly went to Duffy’s head and how his bad behavior got him blacklisted from Hollywood. While trying to get Boondock Saints off the ground, Duffy was also trying to land his band (first called The Brood, then The Boondock Saints) a contract with Madonna’s Maverick Records by twisting the truth about his ongoing contract negotiations and his relationship with talent agency William Morris. The poster boy for biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you, Duffy is not unlike someone asking for a raise before they’ve even clocked in a single day of work. Montana and Smith’s footage speaks for itself: From the way he verbally abuses his clearly frightened friends and crew to the way he condescends to his mother for sympathizing with Sean Penn’s character from Dead Man Walking, Duffy is an abusive schmuck whose inflated self-regard is matched only by his utter callousness. Montana and Brian Smith clearly have an ax to grind, and their contempt for Duffy seems to get in the way of whatever insight they may have to offer about the wear and tear the Hollywood machine has on the human soul. When Duffy makes offhanded references to his impoverished origins, the man engenders sympathy, and as such it’s easy to read his nastiness and self-destructiveness—especially when set against scenes of Cannes high-rolling—as a class struggle. But because Duffy and industry types involved in the rise and fall of his Hollywood career don’t really contribute to the project, any and all insight is strictly conjectural. Of course, for anyone who gets a kick out of watching car wrecks, you really can’t do much better than this.
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.