The opening scene of the adult sex comedy The Overnight finds recent Angelino transplants Emily (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Adam Scott) engaged in decidedly unsensual, frustrated coitus before giving up and—ahem—finishing manually, just as their young son walks in on them. Hence the “adult” qualifier: This is no hot-blooded adolescent romp, but a farce about the erotic obstacles and insecurities of early middle age.
Later that day, Emily and Alex bump into another neighborhood parent, Kurt (Jason Schwartzman), a welcoming fellow who proposes a joint evening playdate over pizza at his place. Kurt and his wife Charlotte (Judith Godréche) are California nouveau riche, and while a bit spacy, they are gracious and easygoing to a fault. This might explain why Emily and Alex acquiesce to their hosts’ increasingly peculiar suggestions once the kids are napping upstairs. Things start with wine, weed, and dancing, but soon move on to skinny dipping and tours of Kurt’s amateur artwork (which has an unusual recurring theme).
The viewer will puzzle out Charlotte and Kurt’s intentions long before hapless Emily and Alex, who are overwhelmed by their hosts’ wealth, not to mention preoccupied with their own sexual anxieties. Although Schwartzman in particular turns on the obsequious creepiness to fine effect, The Overnight is not the tale of a square couple seduced by predatory libertines. It is, rather, the story of four diffident individuals fumbling their way through the seven-year itch. All of the principals might be insufferable to a degree, but they are also recognizably human. Executive producer Mark Duplass’ fingerprints are on the cringingly awkward tone of the comedy, but writer-director Patrick Brice balances it with genuine sweetness and erotic heat. Moreover, he finishes The Overnight with a punchline that perfectly deflates all the tension of the previous seventy minutes.
The Overnight opens Friday, July 3 at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar, 314-727-7271.
