Review: Tonight You’re Mine (2011)

By Ronan Doyle
May 7, 2012 Reviews 3 Comments

Cast: Luke Treadaway, Natalia Tena, Mathew Baynton
Director: David Mackenzie
Country: UK
Genre: Comedy | Music
Official Trailer: Here

Editor’s Notes: Tonight You’re Mine opens in limited release in North American cinemas May 11th.

A welcome change of pace for director David Mackenzie after the baffling hysteria of last year’s Perfect Sense, Tonight You’re Mine scales back the extravagant emotion of that abundantly unsuccessful outing in favour of a comedic look at the thriving indie music scene in the UK. Shot and set at the T in the Park festival, the verité style feature follows the overnight antics of two feuding bandleaders after they are handcuffed together on the mischievous whims of a passing eccentric. Taking in the atmosphere of the festival as the two travel around in search of some way to shed their mutual bond, it captures the gradually shifting relationship between them in the midst of this vibrant hub of a vast subculture.

…considering Tonight You’re Mine’s measly budget it can only be concluded that Mackenzie must have some faith in Thomas Leverrit’s screenplay, something he—talented writer that he is—should be able to see for the indulgent mess of inconclusive characterisation and aggravating wackiness it is.

Mackenzie’s career has gone in an odd direction of late, turning from his successful self-penned projects Young Adam and Hallam Foe to directing the work of other writers, with considerably less positive critical response. It’s difficult to fathom quite why; considering Tonight You’re Mine’s measly budget it can only be concluded that Mackenzie must have some faith in Thomas Leverrit’s screenplay, something he—talented writer that he is—should be able to see for the indulgent mess of inconclusive characterisation and aggravating wackiness it is. The very concept on which the film hangs is established in the least convincing manner possible, shackling its dual leads together after all of three minutes, not nearly enough time for us to get any sense of their prior relationship. It suggests the underpinning conflict of their dynamic is the outcome of nothing more than an ill-timed joke, giving us less a structured portrait of a relationship’s evolution than an hour and then some in the company of hopelessly underwrought characters lacking all sense of self-efficacy. With Hallam Foe Mackenzie gave us a character and film driven by human fears and anger; here all narrative agency rests in the hands of a zany man who shows up at the start for approximately ninety seconds.

It’s not just each other that Tonight You’re Mine’s characters are handcuffed to: they’re also shackled to us, inconsiderately forced upon us when really we have no interest in spending any time with them. They’re extraordinarily poorly sketched people, embodying annoying indie sensibility with all the depth of a teaspoon. So disinteresting are these characters, in fact, that their underdone relationship can’t even sustain itself for the mere 77 minute runtime. Mackenzie occasionally guides us otherwhere to garner some comedic input from secondary characters, even himself recognising the script’s prominent failure to capitalise upon the comic prospects of the protagonists’ predicament. Ever more contemptible than cutesy, the impromptu duo irritates more than endears, not least of all because they’re simply not sympathetic human beings. Morello, the female entanglee, has a scene where she breaks down in tears at the difficulty of her life; it’s hard to care at all when she does so from the comfort of pristine facilities, having not long before bragged about her 900,000 Twitter followers. Given the complete vacuity of she and Adam, the films devolution into a glorified concert video is hardly the most crowd-pleasing move. We’ve spent the last hour seeing how shallow these characters are, why the hell should we want to listen to the mewling monochord whinings they mistakenly deem music?

It’s not just each other that Tonight You’re Mine’s characters are handcuffed to: they’re also shackled to us, inconsiderately forced upon us when really we have no interest in spending any time with them. They’re extraordinarily poorly sketched people, embodying annoying indie sensibility with all the depth of a teaspoon.

Without a trace of actual characters or effective comedy in sight, Tonight You’re Mine is another misfire from a filmmaker who should be miles above this level of nonsense. The restrained aesthetic employed in service of realism just gives the whole thing a look of murky incompetence, resembling an unprofessionally shot behind-the-scenes feature more than the output of a skilled visual storyteller. The scenes set at sunrise and sunset afford Mackenzie the belated opportunity to exercise a certain visual panache, though it comes as much too little almost an hour too late. Competent acting is perhaps the only saving grace to speak of, wasted though it is on an incomprehensibly indulgent screenplay that’s just about guaranteed to inspire seething anger in all but the most patient of viewers. Setting out to emulate the experience of music festival attendance, it does get one thing right: it’s all a lot of faffing about in the mud.

33/100 ~ AWFUL. Without a trace of actual characters or effective comedy in sight, Tonight You’re Mine is another misfire from a filmmaker who should be miles above this level of nonsense.
By Ronan Doyle
Senior Editor and Film Critic. Having spent the vast majority of my life sharing in the all too prevalent belief than cinema is merely dumbed-down weekend escapism for the masses, I was lucky enough to turn on a television at the exact right moment to have my perspectives on the medium completely transformed. Those first two and a half hours marked the beginning of a new life revolving around—maybe even depending upon—the screen and the depth of artistry, intellectual stimulation, and emotional exhilaration it can provide.