After Hours (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Ignore the sad sack who called this "overrated garbage"...It's an overlooked gem by Scorsese. I saw it by happenstance in high school in the 1980s with some friends and we just loved how insanely quirky and bizarre it all was. Years later - when I lived in Manhattan - it was so odd to see Soho all built up and practically a shopping mall...nothing like it used to be as seen in this film. Have waited for HD release for years and now 4K?? Nice!

Perfect

"I just wanted to leave my apartment, maybe meet a nice girl.... and now I've got to DIE for it??!?"Such is the ever-worsening night from hell for Paul Hackett (masterfully played by Griffin Dunne). After a chance encounter with Marcy (Rosanna Arquette), he calls her and is invited to her apartment. Only... he loses all his money on the cab ride over and it turns out it's not her apartment. And those are just a couple of many things that turn out far differently than he expected over the course of this nightmare night that hilariously finds new ways to go from bad to worse over and over again.Before it's over, he witnesses a murder, gets accused of burglary and is hunted by an angry mob, gets entangled with a clingy and 60's obsessed waitress (Terri Garr), a vengeful "Mr. Softee" ice cream truck driver and a bar owner whose girlfriend's death Paul may or may not be responsible for.If you're looking for straight up comedy like "The Hangover", don't look here, but if you want masterfully done dark and twisted black comedy of the highest order, it's hard to top Scorsese's "After Hours". It's one fix after another gone wrong for Griffin Dunne's "Paul", but I can't help but to laugh each time cruel fate steps in on him over and over. Griffin Dunne is superb in the lead, but the rest of the cast is also terrific. The sets and locations perfectly depict the dark loneliness and desperation that engulfs Paul at all hours of the night and the ending is absolutely perfect. It's one of those rare movies that only gets funnier with repeated viewings. I caught it in the theater and owned it on VHS, then DVD and am thrilled it's getting honored with a richly deserved Criterion blu ray release.The film itself is a definite keeper and it's never looked or sounded better than on this release. That said, the Blu ray exclusive extras here are somewhat sparse as most of the bonus materials on this release were also included on the DVD release (deleted scenes, commentary, trailer). There is a new interview of director Martin Scorsese done by writer Fran Lebowitz, some new 2023 comments added to the previously available film commentary and also a new program on the look of the film featuring costume designer Rita Ryack and production designer Jeffrey Townsend, but that's it. I was hoping there would be a little more that would be new to me, but it's the film that matters and Criterion has more than done After Hours justice with this welcome blu ray release.

Great movie!!

Marty always hits it out of the park

Great time capsule of pre-gentrification SoHo gets a long overdue HD release.

Can’t wait to finally have this on blu ray, it’s long overdue

It's all happening!