It's a riches-to-rags story in perhaps the decade's most known and acclaimed documentary about filmmaking, "Overnight". At least, that's how the hype put it to be. Filming started when Troy Duffy had his script for "The Boondock Saints" purchased by ... (read more) It's a riches-to-rags story in perhaps the decade's most known and acclaimed documentary about filmmaking, "Overnight". At least, that's how the hype put it to be. Filming started when Troy Duffy had his script for "The Boondock Saints" purchased by Miramax in what's made out to be Harvey Weinstein's experiment in making someone's Hollywood dreams spontaneously come true; not only does bartender Duffy get a few hundred grand for the script, but he also gets to direct the film, *with* final cut, his band gets to score the film, and Weinstein will purchase Duffy's bar with the intention of co-owning it and letting Duffy still run the place.

To explain further: Duffy had his band mates Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith document the celebration of his immediate success. It doesn't take long to realize the inherent problems with "Overnight". Duffy comes off as a bit of a blowhard and does get quite egotistical with his success. When I viewed this film, I had seen the sequel "The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day", which easily gave the impression that Duffy was quick-tempered and highly immature.

What "Overnight" wants to convince you is that Duffy was mean-spirited even to his own brother and has no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. Duffy's own comments on the film are that "Their anger at me overrode their judgment as filmmakers. That's the tragedy of it. And they stabbed everybody who ever helped them in the back."

As the film progresses, these claims hold water. Montana and Smith themselves edited it, and given the band's overall feelings that Duffy stabbed them in the back with all of them working day and night on the soundtrack without seeing a penny from their leader, the obvious conclusion is that an outside party should have assembled the footage. Chronicling from late 1997 to early 2000, we see nothing but how mean Duffy is to his family, and how he chews out every studio professional he has on the phone; what the editors cannot delete is Duffy's visible frustration that his film hasn't yet gotten off the ground.

This is not to defend his treatment of the people trying to help him, but in a medium like documentary film which has incredible power to distort seconds-long bits of reality, destroy reputations and defame character (whether they're more famous or less famous than Duffy), it would even strengthen the filmmakers' case if they picked more footage that allowed Troy Duffy to be more human and dynamic.

Perhaps I wouldn't be so eager to question the integrity of this 78-minute documentary if less than two of those minutes were spent showing the making of "The Boondock Saints". The focus is almost entirely on Duffy's band, until the time is right to show Duffy's lack of success with gaining distribution on the film. Perhaps it's because in what little we do see, the actors enjoyed working with Duffy. Both Billy Connolly and Willem Dafoe appeared to be having a wonderful time; surely, if Montana and Smith were so eager to depict Duffy as an all-around asshole, they would have shown a full montage of clips where he berates the actors and insults everyone around him.

That question already has an answer, though. The film closes with an Albert Goldman quote, "No man is really changed by success. What happens is that success works on the man's personality like a truth drug, bringing him out of the closet and revealing... what was always inside his head."

A significantly less biased "Overnight" more focused on the making of the film would be well worth seeing. That being said, you learn a lot more about who Duffy truly is by listening to the dialogue in "The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day". And it looks like his actors don't share the same opinion; the modestly-budgeted sequel for a video sleeper hit regained almost all of its original cast. Granted, this isn't the industry where you'll be fired for being an asshole, but that does paint a different picture of what people think about Troy Duffy.

Like the saying goes: Truth is the triple edged sword. There's your side, their side and then there's the truth. I was told to watch this movie about director Troy Duffy after reviewing Boondocks 2. It doesn't really change my opinion either way. ... (read more) Like the saying goes: Truth is the triple edged sword. There's your side, their side and then there's the truth. I was told to watch this movie about director Troy Duffy after reviewing Boondocks 2. It doesn't really change my opinion either way. It's a one-sided slamming of a guy showing him at bad points in his life by two directors who felt slighted by him. It's entertaining in a train-wreck sense, but it's not telling a story and it's certainly not the whole story.

This compelling documentary chronicles the rise and astonishing fall of would-be American film maker Troy "I'm A Massive Twat" Duffy. You may know Duffy as writer/director of cult indie film The Boondock Saints. What you may not know is, upon penning... (read more) This compelling documentary chronicles the rise and astonishing fall of would-be American film maker Troy "I'm A Massive Twat" Duffy. You may know Duffy as writer/director of cult indie film The Boondock Saints. What you may not know is, upon penning the script Duffy was offered a deal by Miramax bigwig Harvey Wide-stein (sorry I mean Weinstein), then, probably the most powerful man in American cinema. He was given a budget of $15million to direct the movie. As well as this Duffy's band, comprising of himself, his brother and some friends were handed a 5 album record deal and would complete the sound track for the film.

Somewhere along the line it all went wrong. Horribly wrong. Like, Reservoir Dogs wrong. So what happened? Well simple...Troy Duffy is an ENORMOUS wanker. Ego tripping his way out of the Miramax deal, pissing off Weinstein so much he gets blacklisted in Hollywood. But it doesn't stop there, the band sell a disasterous 649 copies of their album and are promptly dropped quicker than third period French by their label.

The dellusions of Duffy know no limits - he claims Weinstein wants to be him, Miramax are scared of him, and, perhaps most laughably, he thinks he can get Di Niro.

Anyway, Boondock Saints is eventually picked up by an independent studio and, given limited screening, flops at the box office. Though it did develop a cult following on cable tv, dvd and vhs, a deal Duffy signed with distributors meant he made no money from that. What a shame.

Simply put Troy Duffy is a talentless, potty-mouthed, drunken bully who never deserved the chance he was given and i'm glad he fell flat on his fat ass in the face of potential success. The only shame is he dragged his friends and family down with him, destroying their lives and any hope of future careers for any of them.

Maybe THIS film should have been called How To Lose Friends and Alienate People.

This documentary is probably the only good thing that Troy Duffy will ever be involved in. I say that because I hated The Boondock Saints, and I certainly won't bother seeing Boondock Saints II anytime soon.

This documentary is not like any other u... (read more) This documentary is probably the only good thing that Troy Duffy will ever be involved in. I say that because I hated The Boondock Saints, and I certainly won't bother seeing Boondock Saints II anytime soon.

This documentary is not like any other underdog story. It has you cheering for the underdog's downfall.

The only issue I have with the documentary is how necessary it was to release it. His band never took off, Boondock Saints flopped, and Duffy has no film career outside of a franchise that never worked to begin with.

I guess one can only hope that Mr. Duffy has learned a thing or two about humility and a general sense of kindness and respect to others, especially in regards of highly respected men like Harvey Weinstein.

If you like the sight of a huge asshole imploding, then this is the film for you. As an avowed loather of his execrable 'debut', Boondock Saints, I was immensely entertained by this story of one man's ridiculous ego and how it killed his chances in H... (read more) If you like the sight of a huge asshole imploding, then this is the film for you. As an avowed loather of his execrable 'debut', Boondock Saints, I was immensely entertained by this story of one man's ridiculous ego and how it killed his chances in Hollywood but felt sorry for the fate of the lifelong friends who followed him to the end while the twat in the director's chair hurled obscenities at their undeserving heads. A stark lesson to be learned here: don't fuck with Harvey Goldstein.

More than just a cautionary tale for anyone who wants to get into the filming business. No, it's much more than that. It reveals, without question, one undeniable fact: Troy Duffy is a jackass who happened to make a cool movie about ten years ago.

... (read more) More than just a cautionary tale for anyone who wants to get into the filming business. No, it's much more than that. It reveals, without question, one undeniable fact: Troy Duffy is a jackass who happened to make a cool movie about ten years ago.

Put aside his constant 'I'm so awesome!' and 'The world has been waiting for me!' garbage that made me want to vomit. The way this guy, a grown man, speaks to everyone is pathetic. He curses like hell to anyone and everyone, even his own mother. It's sad that Duffy chooses to behave like such an idiot since Boondock Saints is a great movie and leading up to making it, Harvey Weinstein (one of the most powerful men in Hollyweird) absolutely screwed him over as Hollyweirders do, but Duffy certainly did some self-screwing as well and it's always his attitude that does it. I know in a documentary you can make anyone look foolish through editing tricks, Michael Moore does it all the time, but in Overnight it's not editing. That's simply how Duffy is and it's clear.

Hope the sequel to Boondock Saints can live up to the original.

Overnight is a cautionary tale about the harsh reality of the film. It's also given extra theatrical strength due to the main character being one of almost complete fantasy. Duffy is the key element to his own demise. He's too sure of himself and has... (read more) Overnight is a cautionary tale about the harsh reality of the film. It's also given extra theatrical strength due to the main character being one of almost complete fantasy. Duffy is the key element to his own demise. He's too sure of himself and has an attitude that only a mother could love. Trying to launch a film AND music career, one has to admire Duffy's drive, but not the fact he is almost unlikable. An underdog story that has you on the side of the huge money grabbing corporations just has to be watched. It's a great companion to The Boondok Saints. Saints was a great film, and ten years later, Duffy now has his sequel. Let's hope for a sequel to Overnight as well.