Director: Gavin Wiesen
Writer: Seth W Owen (Screenplay)
Starring: Analeigh Tipton, Emile Hirsch, J.K. Simmons, Meta Golding, Jon Daly, Taran Killam, Kristen Schaal
Plot: A workaholic father who attempts to visit his daughter during a layover in LA, only to discover that she’s disappeared, is forced to team up with her awkward ex-boyfriend to find her over the course of one transformative night.
Tagline – The fastest way to get over an ex? Stay up all night with her dad!
Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Enjoyable Unlikely Partnership
Story: All Nighter starts when Mr Gallo (Simmons) arrives on the doorstep of Martin (Hirsch) looking for his daughter Ginnie (Tipton) who had been dating Martin, only they have broken up. Martin reluctantly helps Mr Gallo around town in search for Ginnie.
Each locations leads to them needing to go through the last 6 months of Ginnie’s life, where the two start bonding, with Martin looking to start his life again.
Thoughts on All Nighter
Characters – Martin is a slacker who was always trying to become a musician, he career hadn’t taken off and after Ginnie left him, he is struggling to get his life back on track, he must give up his day to help his ex-girlfriend’s father find her, which sees him finally getting to face the reality of his own life. Mr Gallo is the mysterious businessman father of Ginnie’s he turns up in search of his daughter, forcing Martin into helping him around town, using his skills to get through the different situations they find themselves in. Ginnie is the ex-girlfriend and daughter that is being searched for, both men have stories about their time together, while we do meet plenty of different people from Ginnie’s life along the way.
Performances – J.K. Simmons and Emile Hirsch both work very well together, they look complete opposites on the outside, which we see by how they work together for their solutions, when we dive into the supporting cast we get to see everything pushing for that extra comedy moment in the film.
Story – The story here follows a father that turns to his daughter’s ex-boyfriend in hopes of finding her, which sees the unlikely pair traveling around LA in search for clues about where she might be. This story does bring us an unlikely partnership between the two as they go in search for something they both care about, they have different exteriors but inside they are both suffering with their own problems, that this day and night will help them learn more about what life really is about, no matter what the age different between the two. We do get the two creating a more entertaining story by showing their differences, only we don’t get into full blown laugh a minute kind of story.
Comedy – The film does use the comedy to get an odd laugh here and there, it is mostly to do with Simmon’s reaction to stuff, while also the whacky characters we meet along the way.
Settings – LA is the backdrop for this film, which is used to show the constantly busy lifestyles of everyone involved and how difficult it can be to get through.
Scene of the Movie – Bar fight.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The supporting characters can be a bit too much.
Final Thoughts – This is an enjoyable buddy comedy which sees the two contrasting characters working together to learn about life, while search for a loved one.
Overall: Fun Comedy.
Signature Entertainment presents All Nighter on Digital HD from August 24th
