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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 18492
Released: August 17, 2004 |
| Our Price: $2.45 |
| Used Price: $4.00 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A Manhattan Yuppie's night out becomes a comic nightmare courtesy of director Martin Scorsese. Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette star in a "wild funny and wonderful original" (Judith Crist) Year: 1985 Director: Martin Scorsese Starring: Griffin Dunne Rosanna Arquette Verna BloomRunning Time: 97 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 085391919209
Description of After Hours:
This well-regarded cult film is a tense Kafka-esque tale concerning what happens to a likable computer guy who is in the wrong place at the wrong time in the city that never sleeps--New York. This is a New York infested with bizarre characters vividly brought to life by a once-in-a-lifetime cast. Griffin Dunne's wonderfully controlled comic performance as Paul Hackett is the glue that holds this increasingly surreal film together. Scorsese utilizes a full array of independent and underground film techniques, including special film speed manipulations, angles, and edits, deftly capturing the strange rhythms of an after-hours New York City. Many will find the jokes clever, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. Some, however, will find the film an excruciating series of staged circumstances setting up a sadistically cruel dark nightmare of horrors. And there are a few lines of dialogue so poorly written they remind you how unbelievable the thin story really is. But forgive the film these few lapses--overall it's a wild, surreal ride. The most offbeat character is the beehive-sporting, Monkee-obsessed neurotic played to perfection by Teri Garr. And the moment when Griffin Dunne uses his last quarter to play Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is" and dances with Verna Bloom while an angry mob searches SoHo for him is an inspired bit of lunacy. --Christopher J. Jarmick
After Hours Reviews:
classic 
2009-11-21 - Martan Scorcesse made After Hours when he was being bullied by fundimentalist goons, trying to get Last Temptation of Christ produced. Can't bring a project off, find another project. It is what the best artists do.
And this film is the opposite of Last Temptation: small, indie tinged and wickedly funny. A nice, average updown New Yorker goes down to Soho to try and get a little action.
When your money goes out the window on the cab ride downtown, it is probably time to go back uptown, have a beer and go to sleep. Our hero does not realize this, and very very few of us would.
And when your first date starts to cry and her roomate goes topless in front of you, yeah, you get the hint. By then, the subway fare goes up and you realize you are in deep trouble.
I won't reveal more but one certianty: we have all days when we should have just stayed in bed with Law and Order and coco. But we troup on and random microdisasters just seem to pop from our normal routine, but by this time, it is too late to go home.
Beyond the great editing and production values and humor which could only be Martin, here is the great part. After the loons of Taxi Driver and King Of Comady, After Hours is Scorcesse dealing with a common guy, having a really, really bad night. Over the top, sure, but something we can all connect with. We have probably all had a day like this, on a smaller scale, in the past few weeks.
The sequence of events is far fetched but with After Hours, that is the point. It makes the film funnier, and the events more immediate.
And I'll tell you, after some of the days I have had, I beleive every frame is entirely plausable.
Not Your Typical Scorsese Film
2009-08-26 - I really liked this film. However, I am a little surprised at the depth of love for this film - many other reviewers on this site say it's one of their favorite films, which I do not quite understand. Yes, it was very unique, funny, and at times brilliant. Having said that, it's not even close to Scorsese's better work on five or six other films. Still, you would never know it's a Scorsese film if you hadn't been told and did not look at the film credits. No gangsters, no wise-guy violence, no catholic guilt.
If you are looking for an off-beat comedy, this one is certainly heads and shoulders above the usual fare. I just can't understand why it has become a cult classic. I give it five stars because it makes other comedies seem lame by comparison, although on the Scorsese meter, it's not even in the top five.
Shocking.....At Least For The First Viewing 
2009-07-08 - Wow, this is another strange movie. Maybe "bizarre" are even "weird" would be better descriptions.
I watched this movie twice, and found it to be one of those films that is very interesting the first time around, but not so cool on the second look when the thin story becomes more evident. Some movies are like that, mainly the ones which are wacky and the viewer is shocked at what he's seeing. When the shock wears off, it isn't so entertaining.
Let's stick to the first look: the film kept my attention because I kept wondering what crazy thing was going to happen next. It's hard to explain this story because its a combination of genres and an attempt at black humor. Be warned, too, on the first viewing: the first 25 minutes are slow, and then it picks up, so stick with it.
Sublime sleeper
2009-05-11 - I loved this film the first time I saw it. The humor in it is a concoction of "everyman" experiences and fantasies. The setting seems ethereal and the main character's trial reminds me of Dante's Inferno. The cast is a parade of 80's actors that largely play low-key but two-dimensional roles (which really makes this movie what it is IMO.)
Great Late Night Show!
2009-03-25 - I fell asleep on the couch one night with the TV on. I woke up in the wee hours to the beginning of this movie and ended up watching it all the way through. It was quirky, otherworldly, and funny. Interestingly enough, you would never know this was a Martin Scorsese film, but he even has a cameo in it (watch for the lighting guy in the club). It's a good film worth watching and owning.
