In 1997, burly Boston-bred bartender Troy Duffy made the front page of USA Today by selling The Boondock Saints, an imitation Tarantino script about self-righteous young vigilantes, for a million bucks to Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, and wangling a recording deal with Madonna’s label for his band, the Brood. Harvey even offered to buy the Hollywood bar where Duffy worked. Mark Brian Smith and Tony Montana, Duffy’s young-friends-turned-managers-cum- cinematic-Boswells, started making a documentary about making it big, resulting in Overnight (on DVD June 28).
Incredibly, Duffy gave everybody’s dreams a decent Viking funeral—torched the whole thing right in front of the amazed eyes of everyone in sight. Tarantino had made it by means of talent and charm. Appallingly, Duffy blew his break and tiny talent by trying to bully and badmouth the people who held his fate in their hands. The film records him putting down Keanu Reeves (“I hate Kee-noo Reeves!”), Ethan Hawke (“a talentless fool”), Kenneth Branagh (“Cunt!”), Miramax potentate Meryl Poster (“Fucking cunt!”), his closest friends and relatives, and the entire Jewish race. His lawyer is depicted calling Harvey Weinstein “a big fat cocksucker,” after Miramax dumped the film.
Duffy arrogantly repels crucial advice, such as Boondock star Willem Dafoe’s laughing comment, “Troy, keep your mouth shut!” His betrayed-friends-turned-filmmakers now employ Duffy’s unstoppable mouth to destroy whatever may be left of his reputation. Among the few DVD extras, a TV interview with the filmmakers reveals that they actually left out some of his self-immolating comments about women and minorities. But once you’ve seen this fool self-destruct, you won’t be craving any extra footage of Troy Duffy. Pity—if he’d tried to be an executive instead of an auteur, all that lunkheaded aggression might have taken him to the top of Hollywood.
FAILING TO CONQUER Hollywood and on disc June 21 are The Jacket, Hostage, Cursed, and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous. On the Iranian cinema front, look for Abbas Kiarostami’s documentary ABC Africa, and two typically strong titles from Mohsen Makhmalbaf: A Moment of Innocence and The Silence. The excellent Israeli triptych of stories Yellow Asphalt also reaches DVD. Since Jennifer Connelly’s about to star in the remake (July 8), check out Hideo Nakata’s very effective original Japanese horror flick Dark Water.
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