Taglines: They’ve got 24 hours to stop a package, prevent a disaster, and fall in love.
Overnight Delivery movie storyline. Wyatt Trips (Paul Rudd) is a student at Twin Cities College, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is in a long-distance relationship with his high school girlfriend, Kimberly Jasney (Christine Taylor), who is currently a student at the University of Memphis. Wyatt loves Kim, even though they have never consummated their relationship.
One day when Wyatt calls Kim, her roommate’s reply leads him to believe that Kim is cheating on him with some guy named “The Ricker”. Heartbroken, he goes to a strip club, gets drunk and becomes acquainted with one of the club’s dancers, Ivy Miller (Reese Witherspoon). She suggests to Wyatt that he break up with Kim by sending her a scathing letter and a topless picture of himself with Ivy. Wyatt complies by sending the package through Global Express, an overnight delivery service.
The next morning, Kim calls Wyatt claiming “The Ricker” is a dog who she had to dogsit. Regretting his actions, he realizes he has 24 hours to retrieve the package before it gets to her. Wyatt and Ivy go to the Global Express office where, by chance, they encounter a spiteful classmate of Wyatt’s (Sarah Silverman) who refuses to help them. Wyatt tries to talk the deliveryman (Larry Drake) into giving him the package, but he thinks Wyatt is a spy for the company, and refuses to break the rules.
Wyatt buys an air ticket to Memphis, but his co-passenger turns out to be a serial killer, John Dwayne Beezly (Tobin Bell), who takes him hostage. Wyatt escapes and runs into Ivy on the road. Fearing that if he went back to the airport, the FBI would question him and he would not make it to Memphis in time, he begs Ivy to drive him all the way. They happen upon the Global Express delivery truck at a gas station. Wyatt breaks into the truck and locates the package, but the truck unexpectedly drives off. Ivy gives chase but despite their efforts they fail to retrieve the package.
At their next stop, Des Moines, Iowa, airport officials do not allow Wyatt to board the connecting flight. So they decide to travel to St. Louis, Missouri to board another connecting flight. En route to St. Louis they have an argument which leads to an accident which ends up with their vehicle falling into the river. They have dinner in a cowboy diner and then try to run out on the check, but get arrested.
After posting bail, they are let off and once again happen upon the delivery truck outside a diner. While the deliveryman is having dinner, Wyatt decides to empty the truck’s gas tank in order to stall him, but a carelessly flung cigarette butt sets fire to the gas and causes the truck to explode. But even that doesn’t stop the deliveryman (who is clearly over the edge by now) and he drives off. Wyatt and Ivy then steal a drunk’s car and drive to Kim’s campus.
Overnight Delivery is a 1998 romantic comedy film directed by Jason Bloom. It was rated PG-13 by the MPAA and released direct-to-video. It featured Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd, prior to both becoming considerably bigger film stars. Other starring are Christine Taylor, Sarah Silverman, Buffy Sedlachek, Richard Cody, Gary Wolf, Tobin Bell, Tamara Mello, Gale Plewacki.
The film was written by Marc Sedaka, Steven Bloom. Kevin Smith worked on an early draft of the script, although he decided to have his name removed from the final product. The film was directed by Jason Bloom; this was his second film, his first being Bio-Dome. The producers include Roger Birbaum and Bradley Tenkel, and the production companies are the MPCA and Caravan Pictures. The film cost $10 million to produce and an extra $10 million was spent on advertising. The film lasts approximately 87 minutes.
Joey Lauren Adams was originally going to skip out on her part in Chasing Amy to play Ivy in Overnight Delivery, but she lost the part to Reese Witherspoon. Kevin Smith—Adams’ boyfriend at the time—has a documented grudge against Witherspoon and cited a rumored incident during the movie shoot.
The entire film was shot in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Exterior scenes were filmed in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and rural Minnesota. The film included landmarks such as Ground Zero nightclub, used as the strip club, Minneapolis convention center as the airport, the Stillwater Lift Bridge, and University of St. Thomas as The University of Memphis. The Embassy Suites Downtown St. Paul was used as The University of Memphis dormitory.
Overnight Delivery (1998)
Directed by: Jason Bloom
Starring: Paul Rudd, Christine Taylor, Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Silverman, Buffy Sedlachek, Richard Cody, Gary Wolf, Tobin Bell, Tamara Mello, Gale Plewacki
Screenplay by: Steven Bloom, Marc Sedaka
Production Design by: Marek Dobrowolski
Cinematography by: Edward J. Pei
Film Editing by: Luis Colina
Costume Design by: Kathleen Detoro
Set Decoration by: Diana Stoughton
Art Direction by: Scott Meehan
Music by: Andrew Gross
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some crude sexual material.
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Release Date: April 7, 1998
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