After Hours

Directed by Martin Scorsese, After Hours follows Griffin Dunne’s Paul Hackett as he embarks on a series of quirky misadventures over the course of one very long night. Filmmaker Scorsese, armed with a screenplay by Joseph Minion, delivers an exceedingly (and occasionally excessively) oddball comedy that is, for the most part, completely watchable from start to finish, and there’s little doubt, ultimately, that the movie benefits substantially from Scorsese’s predictably stylish, mesmerizing visuals and a strong central performance by Dunne – with, in terms of the latter, the actor’s down-to-earth turn effectively anchoring the proceedings through its overtly larger-than-life scenes and sequences. (It doesn’t hurt, either, that Scorsese has elicited superb work from an off-kilter roster of periphery players, including Rosanna Arquette, John Heard, Catherine O’Hara, and Teri Garr.) The proliferation of agreeable attributes does, as a result, ensure that After Hours‘ decidedly erratic, hit-and-miss atmosphere is rarely, if ever, as problematic as one might’ve feared, which, when coupled with a satisfying closing stretch, cements the picture’s place as a fairly memorable (and appreciatively brisk) endeavor from Scorsese.

*** out of ****