Sunday, June 20, 2004
MOVIE OF THE WEEK It's rarely mentioned in the same sentence as TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL, but AFTER HOURS, Martin Scorsese's 1985 madcap thriller-comedy, is well worth seeing.
The film takes Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) through a 1980s New York City nightmare: Stuck in gritty SoHo late at night without money or transportation, he struggles to hold off hoodlums and get home to the Upper East Side.
It may seem like a thin premise. But strong performances by Dunne and Rosanna Arquette, a tight script by Joseph Minion (who seems to have been relegated to relative obscurity in the years after the film's release) and a flexible approach from Scorsese prevent the movie from bogging down or the conceit from growing old.
For reasons that remain obscure, the film isn't yet available on dvd. But it hits stores on August 17. So Netflix users can go ahead right now and add it to their queues.
