NOW IN THEATERS! It bears repeating. You can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your family. Busting balls and pranking your loved ones is what families do, but what happens when you let your emotional blocks get in the way? A misguided prank exposes fragile family dynamics in Seth McTigue’s dramatic thriller, take the night.

take the night follows two sets of brothers at opposite ends of the economic strata. William (Roy Huang) and Robert Chang (Sam Song Li) are the sons of a wealthy Chinese importer. After the death of their father, their favorite son, Robert, is appointed CEO in place of his older brother. William now works under Robert as an executive lackey and harbors a healthy dose of resentment.

Chang Imports is now struggling as there is little confidence in the brothers to pull the company out of its economic difficulties. Although the brother rarely speaks without a healthy dose of passive aggression, William thinks it would be a good idea to throw a birthday party for Robert and, as a special surprise, hire four thugs to kidnap and deliver him. at the party. Now, we all see how funny that can be, right?

Robert hires veteran Chad (Seth McTigue), who then recruits his younger brother Todd (Brennan Keel Cook), who in turn brings in his friends Shannon (Shomari Love) and Justin (Antonio Aaron). Simple, right? As the foursome carry out the fake kidnapping, they decide to rob the kidnapped executive by forcing him to open the safe in his house. The safe contains a small stack of gold bars, a hard drive with a large sum of cryptocurrency money, family jewelry, and an unopened letter from William and Robert’s father.

“…throw a birthday party for Robert and… hire four thugs to kidnap him and deliver him to the party.”

take the night is more of a drama than a thriller. The way the kidnapping and heist is done is quite simple and everything goes according to plan. The action is good and devoid of over-the-top and expensive stunts, elaborate car chases or fight scenes, writer/director/star McTigue wisely focuses on his characters and their story arcs.

The filmmaker explores the family dynamic between the two brothers. There are reasons why William chose a violent surprise for his brother. When Robert is dumped at his birthday party by the “kidnappers”, the theft catches William off guard, realizing he has made a huge mistake. His prank cost the family and company millions, and now William is in the middle of a police investigation for the kidnapping he planned. On the other hand, Robert endeavors to recover only the stolen personal objects: the watch and the letter from his father.

On the other side, Chad and Todd have their issues too, and you guessed it…those issues come from dad too. Chad is a former military man and suffers from PTSD with his boyfriend, Justin. Todd never followed in his brother’s footsteps, but he would have liked to. Chad is older and “in control”, while Todd is kind of a slacker.

As a filmmaker, McTigue’s strength lies in how he creates likability for his characters. take the night should be a simple story of good and bad, but we have characters from all sides stuck in life with their personal, emotional and financial issues. The extreme acts of kidnapping and theft will change these characters for better and for worse.

take the night sits at a solid 7.5. It’s a good thriller with great performances. The film also has impressive production values ​​and the cinematography is top-notch. The world McTigue has built feels authentic, especially for an indie film. What the movie needed to push it into the 8 or 9 range is more… like pushing the limits of the action and pushing the characters to their limits.

take the night hits theaters on July 8 and on demand and video on July 12.