Director: Eric Aronson
Writer: Eric Aronson
Stars: Paul Guilfoyle, Taylor Gray, Alexandra Templer
Synopsis: To stage a masterpiece of a heist, you need time, friends, and balls. Steve has two of the three
Art thieves are complicated criminals. On the one hand, they seem to have a sense of art history and the value of the medium. On the other hand, they seem nuts because they are taking something that is catalogued and has no other like it on Earth and thus, nearly impossible to move without someone noticing. It takes a certain type of thief to be modestly successful at art theft. Which is not what you think when you meet the crew in Any Day Now.
Writer and director Eric Aronson’s script doesn’t give us much confidence that the crew of art thieves led by Marty (Paul Guilfoyle) could rob a liquor store, much less a guarded museum. At one point, a member of the crew is brought in to intimidate a drug dealer and in a confusing move with a shotgun, seemingly blows his own testicles off. It’s unclear whether it was intentional or not. Much of Aronson’s script evolves that way as we are stuck with point of view character Steve (Taylor Gray), who knows next to nothing about what is happening.
This is both a benefit and a detriment to Aronson’s script. The idea that we’re always on our back foot when it comes to Marty and his schemes is refreshing. This way of revealing things as they become necessary makes sure that the audience shouldn’t be ahead of the action in predicting the outcome of any one plot point. It’s an intriguing way to keep the audience interested.
It’s too bad the other main plot is such a dud. We have seen the lovelorn guy many times before. We’ve seen the girl of his dreams who doesn’t know how he feels and doesn’t understand her own self worth, many times before. We’ve seen the doormat guy who worries about losing his best friend since childhood even though that friend is an incredibly crappy adult. These plot points drag down the more interesting characters and plots.
Marty is a fascinating character. His charm is in his mystery, though, so he never would have worked as the focal character of this film. There is a scene that perfectly encapsulates how he is willing to save Steve from his pushover relationship with friend and roommate Danny (Armando Rivera) while also reminding Steve that he’s a pushover for Marty now. As Steve and Danny’s band play Massachusetts anthem, “Roadrunner” by Johnathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, Marty makes his way to the stage and stares down Danny until he gets the microphone from Danny. Marty then begins to croon the Boston standard, “Dirty Water” by The Standells. He gets the band into it and the crowd into it and completely takes over the space that Danny once held in the crowd’s hearts and minds. It’s a scene that evolves the two overbearing relationships in Steve’s life without forcing the issue with unnecessary dialogue.
The scene is all the more rich for Paul Guilfoyle’s bruiser charisma. Guilfoyle has been a character actor for a long time and he can give us all we need to know about a character with only a word and a gesture. His presence is felt in every scene he’s in not because he’s speaking, but because he’s thinking. Marty is always thinking and Guilfoyle makes this plain with every look he gives. It’s a masterfully subtle performance that conveys everything dangerous and enticing about Marty.
For the most part, Any Day Now is an enjoyable film. It’s not the best of heist movies, or relationship dramas for that matter, but it has characters and instances that make it intriguing to watch. It’s hard not to want to know what is going to happen when the mystery is held back so well. It’s worth tracking down for Paul Guilfoyle’s performance and for the intrigue of the heist plot.
