Overnight Delivery (1998) — A Stealth Kevin Smith Comedy

“Only a male can be an incubus. If anything, I’m a succubus.”

Justin’s rating: This is how I expect FedEx operates

Justin’s review: I mean, I’m not going to say “no” to a Paul Rudd romcom from the ’90s that revolves around a wacky road trip. Would you? I’ve actually been saving this for a metaphorical rainy day when I would be in the mood for something light, fluffy, and full of charming smiles from this immortal comedian.

In Overnight Delivery, Rudd plays Trips, a college student who’s frustrated at the distance of his girlfriend Kimberly (The Brady Bunch Movie’s Christine Taylor). That frustration boils over into red-hot revenge when he finds out that she’s been cheating on him while demanding his own fidelity. Trips sends a particularly nasty letter to her in response… only to find out that she’s not been cheating after all.

Whoops.

Thus begins a race cross-country to intercept the overnight letter courier before his relationship actually does implode. Along for the ride is Ivy (Reese Witherspoon, Legally Blonde), a fellow student who convinced Trips to send said nasty letter. Witherspoon actually looks and sounds so much like a real ’90s college kid — complete with dark hair — that I kept doing double takes that it was actually her.

Suffice to say, this is a movie road trip, so a whole bunch of weird and occasionally disturbing stuff happens as these two chase a delivery truck helmed by that guy from Dr. Giggles. But if a serial killer and grand theft auto can’t make true love blossom between polar opposites, what can?

Indeed, these co-conspirators find that unusual situations bring unlikely personalities together. Ivy’s sarcastic with a good heart, and Trip’s a hot mess of a goofball who actually would make for good boyfriend material to the right girl. Y’know, if he grew up, and if she admitted to actually having feelings for him. I liked how these two were alluding to their mutual attraction and bickering about it pretty early on.

For an unknown direct-to-video flick, Overnight Delivery actually an interesting backstory. For starters, Kevin Smith actually wrote an early version of this script before removing himself from the project. So in a way, this is kind of a long-lost Smith film in the era that made him a star.

Also, the rumor is that this 1998 movie that almost nobody saw ended up becoming the inspiration for director Todd Phillips’ Road Trip two years later. The general plot similarities are uncanny, even if that rumor is not actually true. I have no idea.

I’m of mixed feelings on this flick. I’ll get the bad stuff out of the way first by saying that this isn’t the best lifetime acting performance for… well, anyone in this movie. The jokes and lines don’t always land the way you know they should, and that could be due to immaturity both in front and behind the camera. Paul Rudd tries to hard to be this wAcKY, overly emotional college kid when he already looks like he’s 35, and sometimes his frantic delivery makes it hard to root for his character. Rudd is always more likable when he’s chill and snarky, not when he’s screaming and dancing on the hoods of cars and flipping out over every last little thing.

Yet for all of its flaws, Overnight Delivery is an easy pick for a genuine good time. The energy is high, the ’90s aesthetics strong, and the soundtrack eager to please. Trips and Ivy make a cute couple, and it’s clear from the start that they should be together. There’s also a willingness to dip into surreal moments like talking photos, homicidal dream sequences, an unstoppable mailman, and serial killers on planes, which are the sorts of things that endear movies to me.

Intermission!

• An early draft of this script was written by Kevin Smith with a Jay & Silent Bob cameo. Joey Lauren Adams would’ve played Ivy.
• That opening tune is kind of peppy!
• Oh hello, Brady Bunch’s Christine Taylor
• Moby Dick ripped off Steven Spielberg’s Jaws
• That does look like a very authentic ’90s guy dorm room
• The picture comes aLIVe!
• Barbed wire doesn’t seem like a safe thing to have in a strip club
• “She broke my heart!” “Then break her ego!”
• “To the computer cluster!”
• “My stomach turned the last time we made out & your gut flapped against me, those cellulite packed cactuses you call thighs with the razor sharp stubble.”
• “THE RICKER’S A DOG!”
• Ivy’s on board with the retrieval mission when she learns that Kimberly’s starting to learn how to post things on the internet
• It’s Sarah Silverman as a college student
• “I’m going to name my first born after you. Seriously. What is your name? …Jugdish?”
• “Do you have a car?” “No, I have a rickshaw.”
• It’s always a bad sign when your plane is surrounded by cop cars with flashing lights
• “I cut her head off, and I nuked it.”
• “It’s way too cold for killer bees, they need a warm climate to survive.”
• Paul Rudd picking up a comic book at the gas station — that would be so cool if it was Ant-Man
• …And he’s back in the truck
• Trips spends a lot of this movie partially naked
• Don’t give girls roses with baby’s breath — hand-picked daisies in a napkin is better
• Ivy’s hairdo is pretty interesting
• I love Ivy’s slapping
• “You may be cute when you’re angry, but you drive like a nine-year-old girl.”
• His hot dog’s the one with the pig
• Ivy’s Kim cheer is awesome: “C’mon Trips, where is your school spirit?”
• She sorta punched her car over a cliff
• Ivy’s southern accent
• The giant green foam hat
• Cops give solid love advice
• It’s cold steam!
• He keeps driving the truck even though it blew up AND is on fire?
• If your destination isn’t dramatic enough, just dance on top of your stolen truck for a while
• Kimberly’s got a The Breeders poster
• How many deliveries and elevators does this dorm have?