1-800-Hot-Nite

I got conned into watching 1-800-Hot-Nite by the Director himself who gets a 10/10 for being a kick ass hype man and sales man for his terrible film. I met him at a film festival and he had me sold on this 1-800 film and his abilities as a filmmaker which I would actually rank very poorly now that I have seen the work.

But he got me as I purchased this film on digital based on his hyping it and telling me how it got into some prestigious Euro festival which now I suspect may not even be true or if it did get it in it was possibly because the Director conned someone there too.

It has a 90's vibe which I usually dig but it seems like it is also in modern times I don't know if I missed something or it is just another terrible problem in this film. The cast is pretty weak but it could have been the scripting as they also are forced to say pointless lines in constantly contrived narrative which lacks a focus. I mean really this film is about nothing and is plain boring I am sorry to say.

To be fair the actor who plays the main kid is actually pretty good at times and the woman in the car seems to be a pro actress but the rest are kind of forgettable.

I just felt like I got cheated out of my time more than money honestly, and I really hope no one else gets conned into watching this film. This Director either has no shame or he truly has no idea what a good script and good film-making is.

Just all in all bad for indy film when schlock like this gets pushed on the consumer, bad for the distributor selling this schlock and bad for the festivals showing this schlock.

1-800-HOTNITE is a bad movie, but at least it is an innocent badness, as the filmmakers, financiers and producers behind it that allowed this dud to move forward seem to be clueless about the basics of story telling, mis-en-scene, and movie making.

We were looking forward to this film as traditionally the films at Deauville are of a certain high standard having premiered at other top-tier festivals prior to their Deauville stop. But Deauville for some reason made an exception here by choosing a film that is poorly written and directed, only made somewhat tolerable by up and coming Dallas Young who plays Tommy.

In 1-800-HOT-NITE, Tommy loses his father to a drug raid and then embarks on a night of improbable adventure that leaves the viewer feeling bored and frustrated. The story goes nowhere so it is hard to pay attention throughout but I did my best to hang in there till the end.

Writer and Director Nick Richey makes a lot of errors. For starters my husband and I still can't tell if the film is set in the 80's , 90's or in modern times because the lead character makes calls from old American telephone booths and corded land lines, and interacts with police driving old police cars, but the entire film feels like it is set at a time when phone booths are obsolete and everyone has a cell phone.

The dialog is either boring or pointless. For example, the characters comment on each other's clothes with great emphasis even though there is absolutely nothing remarkable about their clothes. Perhaps the only line of dialog that is compelling in the film is it's title "1-800-HOT-NITE" as it sort of hooked us to check it out.

1-800-HOT-NITE has the appearance of an amateur film that was made with dialog improvisation on set after characters are placed in situations that are unnatural. Tommy decides to collect money for some paper route (hello 90's again! Or maybe even 70's!) late at night and in cash, something that would most likely lead to nothing, but in Richey's thoughtless script, this decision by Tommy triggers the most improbable responses from other characters who apparently are on Tommy's paper route that he somehow walks to door to door late into the night.

Are all these paper route characters all in one city block readily available to open their doors to Tommy to give him cash for a paper route after midnight? Or is Tommy able to teleport himself from one door to the next? I suppose any unbelievable occurrence is possible with a script that has no sense of time or place.

This was like the boy version of Thirteen or Speak, but for the current generation. I was born in 1993, so it's been a long time since middle school. I still remembered how it was watching the new generation, and I felt so bad for kids as they suffered physical abuse and crazy adults.

This film is perfect for anyone who likes gritty realistic films. It's definitely about kids of today, but they made it timeless in a way too. It reminded me of my time, even if I was in suburbia, not a city.

Parents should watch this with their kids, even if they live a completely different life. So many kids suffer in situations like this.

I didn't expect this movie to be that good , honestly I didn't understand the low ratings but as a kid this was a great coming of age , the script wasn't a problem , I felt this was a kid having learning about the real world in a hard way .. at first I thought it was going to be a comedy ( like super bad American pie etc etc ) but no it was more of David Clark's ( kids) not as vulgar but that same type of feel ... as a kid you think you have the answers and think life hits one way but in reality it doesn't ... live is hard , in one night one little boy learns almost every life lesson you can learn in a life time , friends , love, people , adults and cold reality. I really enjoyed this movie in my opinion it's something new compared to what's been coming out lately.

Growing up isn't always a straight path, and some are forced to grow up sooner than others. The young characters in this film were forced to deal with heavy issues and grow up in front of our eyes. The script is deft at blending the very real lightness that can come with being a kid, with the heavy realities of their home lives. You believe their journey and the emotions are palpable. The actors are incredible and three boys have a chemistry that is so fun to watch. Ali Richey as Ava, portrayed a woman who has lived a hard life but still has a soft side. Her connection with Tommy (played by Dallas Young), starts as pure comedy. As in real life, however, you never know who will be there when you need it. Watching their connection was powerful. This film is well acted and writing/directing from Nick Richey demonstrates incredible talent! This was a powerful film with a lot of passion behind it. Recommend highly!