Any Day Now
Steve (Taylor Gray, "Saturday Night's" Al Franken) is an aspiring musician living with his deadbeat bandmate Danny (Armando Rivera) and the woman he loves, Danny's girlfriend Sara (Britt Marling type Alexandra Templer). Two things - his $5K debt to local weed dealer Albert (Thomas Philip O'Neill) and his job as a security guard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - will make him the target of local Boston criminal Marty Lyons (Paul Guilfoyle, "L.A. Confidential," "Don't Look Up") who promises to pay off his debt if he helps him with his laser-focused art heist in "Any Day Now."
Laura's Review: B-
Writer/director Eric Aronson (writer, "Mordecai") makes his feature debut kicking off with a cheeky twist on a Coen Brothers title card - 'On March 18, 1990 millions of dollars worth of art are stolen from Boston's Gardner Museum. This is not what happened.' - before diving into what turns out to be less about the infamous Gardner Museum heist and more about an unusual mentor/protege, coming-of-age story. The movie, shot in and around Boston, gives character actor Guilfoyle a leading role and the actor seizes the opportunity, creating a character who is both scarily combustible and stealthily lovable.
Steve has just been expelled from the (fictional) Cambridge Bay School of Music for selling drugs. He practices evading alarm sensors, assuming acrobatic positions, at his job for sport, returning home to find the fridge bare and Danny perplexingly unresponsive to a phone call from a record label. Sitting in a local bar, he's approached by Marty and then next thing he knows he's being driven around town with Marty quoting the likes of Cicero, projecting both threat and supportive advice, as Steve's own dealer screams from the trunk of the car. Steve, knowing he is now being watched, is picked up again by Marty the next day then driven to a courthouse, the befuddled young man expected to act as a character witness for a parole hearing. When Steve's performance isn't exactly convincing, Marty whispers not to worry as there are two guys with machine guns outside ready to step in if necessary.
Marty also appears at one of Steve and Danny's gigs, unexpectedly taking over the microphone from Danny, engaging the crowd in a rousing rendition of Boston sport teams favorite 'Dirty Water,' Steve grinning as he accompanies him on guitar. But Marty's evaluation of Sara doesn't go over well, even though Sara recognizes herself in his words. And while Steve appears to be ready to abet Marty's Gardner plan, two local cops and one of Marty's rivals (Thomas Kee, "Blow the Man Down") step in to shake his resolve.
In addition to local flavor, Aronson added plenty of supporting players to flesh out Marty's world, from the crew who enjoy hanging out and driving golf balls across Boston Harbor to Aunt Celia (Sheriden Thomas, 2023's "Boston Strangler"), an unwitting stolen goods storage accomplice with dementia who Marty nonetheless genuinely cares for. Taylor exemplifies the 'good guy loser' type, but the film is really brought to life by the charismatic Guilfoyle who's never been better than he is here. The film's third act doesn't go the way we think it will, and not necessarily in ways that always satisfy (one surprise involving a pizza box excepted), but Guilfoyle makes "Any Day Now" worth the watch.
Robin's Review: B
Steve (Taylor Gray) is, basically, a loser. He has a go-nowhere job as a night watchman, his band is a bust, he owes a ton of money for drugs and he is crushing on his best friend’s girlfriend. Then, a guy named Marty (Paul Guilfoyle) makes him an offer he cannot refuse in “Any Day Now.”
“This is not what happened” is the opening blurb as the story of one of the great art thefts in modern history is given a made-up makeover. It turns out that Marty is a very persuasive man and tempts Steve into being a part of the heist caper with a promise.
Steve is the night guard at a prestigious art museum and Marty picked him as the inside man. The older man – a dirty cop? – tells him that he will pay off his sizable debt to Albert (Thomas Philip O’Neill) the drug dealer. It is too good an offer to pass up.
As the caper unfolds and we meet all the players, the “Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” vibe ensues as the oddballs and misfits work to steal a boatload of precious paintings. Though the place of the fictitious robbery is never given, it is obvious to any New Englander that “One Fine Day” was influenced by the infamous art robbery in 1990 of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. That robbery, in about an hour, garnered hundreds of millions of dollars worth of masterpieces, It remains unresolved and none of the paintings have been recovered.
Here, though, things do not go quite the way Marty had planned and our always hapless Steve may be in for yet another major disappointment with his life. Then again, maybe not. This is an oddball happily-ever-after movie that catches you unawares with the ending.
After a special 3/17/25 screening at the Somerville Theater in MA, "Any Day Now" will be released in select theaters on 3/21/25.
