moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (09/30/85)
Usually when I come out of a good comedy, I'm in a good mood
because I laughed a lot over the last hour-and-a-half, but I'm also
a bit wistfull, because the hero/heroine has usually found a happy
ending at the end. And even though I lead the exciting life of a
Software Engineer [segue to Indiana Jones Theme], you have to
envy the luck of those characters to some degree. _After_Hours_
is a film which will leave you in a good mood because you laughed
a lot over the last hour-and-a-half and you are NOT the main
character in this very black comedy by Martin Scorsese.
_After_Hours_ tells the story of a New York yuppie who goes to
meet a girl in Soho for a date, and goes through the most
incredibly nightmarish series of events you ever imagined on any
date you ever had. Let's put it this way: this movie will put bad
date you ever had in perspective; it reminds you of a cross
between a Twilight Zone episode and a Hitchcock mystery where
Our Hero is accused of a crime he didn't commit and is pursued --
except here, he never gets cleared. I suspect you will also laugh a
good deal through it, especially if you're single (or recently single)
and living in a major population area. Particularly good
performances by Griffin Dunne, as the yuppie; Rosanna Arquette as
the rather strange girl he decides to visit; Verna Bloom, as the
only character who doesn't do something nasty to Dunne's
character (and that is a tender moment); and Cheech & Chong, for
being themselves and not making any references to dope during the
movie. Scorsese uses very neat camera tricks throughout this film
(I particularly like the "crack the whip" shot used during the
closing credits in Dunne's office). All in all, _After_Hours_ is
possibly a great argument for marriage (you don't have to leave
your home), and also a pretty entertaining movie, though not a
great one, as several critics have been calling it. Not a Friday
night emotion-drainer, I think -- more of a Monday entertainment
film.
"While not a master of intellect, the blatantly
obvious things WE often take for granted never
escape HIS keen eye!"
"Horse."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
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