Tagline: Working late was never this brutal
Not many workers are fans of overtime, especially on the weekend, unless they desperately need the money. Well, Max and Raph were not your usual workers, as they were actually full time, highly paid assassins, and part time cake and clown conscriptors. So, what did you get when you mixed a meager $5,000 budget, a professional wrestler, zombies, aliens and the great John Wells? A bloody good time, that’s what, and you got to look at this guy for 81 minutes as well. No Homo. Well, maybe a little.
Max and Raph were Pulp Fictionesque hit men and worked for a cute little attorney, who for a hefty fee, got slimy criminals off the hook in the courtroom. After freeing the crooks, she then dispatched the two assassins to rub them out so that they would commit no more crimes. The latest task of the dynamic duo was only partially complete, so they were commissioned again to finish the job. This was where the chaos ensued, with zombies, aliens, and even worse, with corrupt Pharmaceutical Researchers. As terrifying as all the zombies and aliens were, Raph was much more terrified at the prospect of disappointing his shitty kid and bitchy wife, and I didn’t blame him.
Max and Raph played wonderfully off of each other as they seamlessly incorporated the mundane familial back-story with the unexpected challenges of saving the world from alien destruction. They were buddies, they were partners and they had each others back, both on the job and at the family setting. The one-liners and hilarious zingers flowed like second nature as these two gunslingers took on a Pharmaceutical Company’s greed and drug diversion as just part of a day’s work. Snow was a professional wrestler, and he put his wrestling skills to good use during the action and kill scenes which used just old-fashioned gory make-up instead of CGI. As you might expect, the big star of the movie was John Wells who used his ripped physique, boyish good looks and deceptive acting skills to smoothly deliver his humor cloaked violence.
Homoeroticism:
There was not that much. These guys were buddies, but always had their eyes on the ladies. I cannot, however, fail to mention that scene near the end of the movie, after the shootout. Here we had Max and Raph, totally ripped and buff, clothed only in their jockey shorts, high-pressure hosing each other at a Car Wash, to get rid of the blood and gore. This was undoubtedly another tribute to the masterpiece Pulp Fiction, but you be the judge.
How Bad was it really?
What is the opposite of bad? Yeah, fantastic, and that is exactly what Overtime was. O.K., so this movie was made on a budget that would hardly cover a check for a large dinner party at Pizza Hut, but so what? So what if the acting was sometimes horrible and the camera work shaky; these guys just saved the world…and the kid’s birthday party! Overtime was far superior to a mere cheesy and camp B movie; it was a finely crafted work of art. There was even stupid political content with the taking in of a homeless jerk and giving him gainful employment as a clown. Who cares if there were hundreds of F-Bombs and sexual innuendos; they pulled it off, and in time for the birthday party.
I simply cannot praise this movie enough as a Ctrl-Alt-Delete for the brain. It was a goofy and mindless shoot-em-up buddy movie with zombies who had green, fiber optic dicks and bad attitudes. Overtime never attempted to oversell itself or take itself seriously. The film drove home the wonderful concept of staying focused on home and family during the direst of workplace circumstances. When confronted with a similar situation, I doubt if I would have the depth of character to not be distracted by hordes of green-puss oozing mutants and aliens that wanted to eat my brain. I would buckle under all the pressure and gunfire, and undoubtedly forget the cake and the clown.
DVD and extras:
The disc is surprisingly rich with extras, including behind the scenes action, press promotion, a documentary on “‘surviving Overtime”, a trailer and a commentary track that includes John Wells, Al Snow, and both directors.
Quotes and one-liners:
- “What’s your password?” -Monica “Fuck YOU!” “All lower case”-Stephanie
- “I’m an attorney, ladies, it’s my job to know”
- “Go fuck your mother, Max” -Raph “I love you Raph” -Max
- “Fuck yeah, I love cake” -Max
- “Hey, Raph, explain to me why that girl had a big green dick coming out of her shoulder.” -Max
- “Max, chicks with dicks are always scary” -Raph
- “You want to run that by me again? I went to Public School” -Max
- “Let’s go kill this bitch” -Raph
- “Take me to the shaft and I’ll do the rest”-Monica “I’ll bet you will, sweetheart” -Max
Special Ruthless Ratings -or- What I learned from Overtime:
- If you want to purchase a Y-Box, you will have to wait until the day of release, even if you do look like Steven Seagal.
- To totally incapacitate an alien, who is exponentially superior to humans, all you have to do to kill them is jerk off their green proboscises.
- Pharmaceutical Labs routinely stock an arsenal that would make ISIS proud.