The 24th Day

The 24th Day
The 24th Day
	DVD release cover
Directed by	Tony Piccirillo
Written by	Tony Piccirillo
Based on	The 24th Day; by Tony Piccirillo
Produced by	Nick Stagliano
Starring	James Marsden; Scott Speedman;
Cinematography	J. Alan Hostetter
Edited by	Aaron Mackof
Music by	Kevin Manthei
Production; companies	Nazz Productions; Big Teddy Films;
Distributed by	Screen Media Films
Release dates	May 6, 2004 (Tribeca); May 14, 2004;
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The 24th Day is a 2004 American drama film written and directed by Tony Piccirillo, based on his play of the same name.^[2] The film stars James Marsden and Scott Speedman. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on May 6, 2004.

Plot

Tom (Scott Speedman) and Dan (James Marsden) meet in a bar and then proceed to Tom's apartment together. While there, Dan realizes that he had been in that same apartment before. Five years earlier, Dan and Tom had a one night stand there. According to Tom, that encounter with Dan was his first and only homosexual experience. Some years later, Tom's wife is found to be HIV positive. Despondent after receiving this diagnosis from her doctor, she drives through a red traffic light and is killed in an ensuing collision.

Subsequent to these events, medical tests reveal that Tom is also HIV positive. Tom blames himself for passing HIV on to his wife and, in turn, he blames Dan for passing the virus on to him. Reasoning that Dan, ultimately, is to blame for his wife's death, Tom devises a plan to exact revenge. He holds Dan hostage, keeping him bound and gagged to a chair in his apartment. He draws blood from Dan in order to conduct a test to determine Dan's HIV status. If Dan's test results are positive for HIV, Tom vows to kill Dan. If the results are negative, Tom agrees to release Dan unharmed.

In the end, Tom returns to the apartment and lets Dan go. As Dan is leaving, Tom asks him when he had last been tested. A few moments later, he reveals that Dan's test was, in fact, positive. He decided to let Dan go because he realized that his positive status was the result of his choices which he couldn't blame on anyone else. The screen fades with Dan standing in Tom's doorway in shock.

Cast

James Marsden as Dan
Scott Speedman as Tom
Sofía Vergara as Isabella
Barry Papick as Mr. Lerner
Charlie Corrado as Officer #1
Jarvis W. George as Officer #2
Scott Roman as The Bartender
Jeffrey Frost as Dan's Assistant
Jona Harvey as Marla
Thea Chaloner as Wife
Brian Campbell as Blondie
Zach The Dog as Lerner's Dog

Release

The film had its world premiere at the 3rd Tribeca Film Festival on May 6, 2004. It was released in limited theaters in the United States on May 14, 2004, and on DVD on August 31, 2004.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, The 24th Day holds an approval rating of 27% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 4.30/10.^[3] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 29/100 based on 6 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[4] Robert Koehler of Variety wrote that "the movie is never more than a hesitantly filmed recording of the play".^[2]

References

^ "The 24th Day". Nazz Productions. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
^ ^a ^b Koehler, Robert (July 20, 2004). "The 24th Day". Variety. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
^ "The 24th Day". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
^ "The 24th Day". Metacritic. Retrieved May 1, 2022.