The action drifts through a neon-lit night-time world where four friends take a break from their dead-end jobs by meeting up in a cafe and discussing their ever-more-complicated love lives.
by Patrick Peters |
Published on
Release Date:
22 Jun 2001
Running Time:
91 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
Late Night Shopping
From its midnight diner opening to its crazy golf conclusion, this is a smart, unforced buddy comedy. The initial reaction is to resist Vinnie (Lance), the egregious shelf-stacker; timid telephonist Lenny (Cilenti) and his tongue-tied passion; hospital porter Sean (De Woolfson) and his obsession with a runaway girlfriend and the laconic ladette observations of unemployed Jody (Ashfield).
But, as their lives unfurl, they become irresistibly good company. Not all of the character quirks come off, most notably Lenny's porno delusions and Vinnie's shop-floor salvation, but debuting director Saul Metzstein keeps the pace brisk and the touch light.
With unfussy support from Heike Makatsch and Sienna Guillory, this is the best twentysomething ensemble to emerge from this country in yonks.
Making an assured debut, director-producer-writer team Saul Metzstein, Angus Lamont and Jack Lothian bring to mind the Boyle-Macdonald-Hodge trio of Trainspotting and Shallow Grave (on which Metzstein worked as a runner), as they take a young and sexy cast through the trials of modern life.
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