Chirphymium
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Numerootno
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Zlatica
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
SnoopyStyle
Former British pop star Gary Shaller (Martin Freeman) is struggling with a mid-life crisis. He's writing jingles for his more successful former bandmate Paul (Simon Pegg) and in a troubled marriage with Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow). He starts having dreams about Anna (Penélope Cruz). He learns to connect more with his dreamgirl through lucid dreaming with the help of Mel (Danny DeVito).Jake Paltrow got a lot of friends and his daughter to do his film. His directing skills are not good enough to make this cinematic. Even his visual flourishes lack a sharpness in their execution. The writing is not much in terms of drama. It's an idea looking for intensity. This does have a great cast although it's hard to buy Freeman as a former pop star. It's not his looks as much as his Office persona. On the other hand, Cruz is easily a dreamgirl and cool chick. There is a way to intensify this concept and story but this is not it.
Chrysanthepop
Jake Paltrow's 'The Good Night' tells an interesting story revolving around dreams. I liked the creativity that was used in this movie and the concept behind the story. What if life has become so dull and sad that one prefers living in their dream through lucid dreaming? The storytelling is pretty tricky as it hints and suggests without exactly revealing until the very end. In between the main story, the film jumps into interview scenes with Gary's friend, ex-girlfriend and ex-bandmember talk about him. The dream sequences are very well executed. I liked how Penelope Cruz's voice was modified to suit Ana (who is a figment of Gary's dream). The screenplay is solid. Martin Freeman does a superb job. Simon Pegg is first rate. Penelope Cruz is wonderfully sensual. Gwyneth Paltrow does a fine job and Danny De Vito is terrific. Music is an important component of the film and 'The Good Night' is provided a brilliant score. This is a unique little film that had me engaged throughout its running time and I may pay a revisit sometime later.
jack_rocs_ur_world
I really like this film, OK it didn't quite have the plot 100% perfect and it got a little mucky. But I think that is good, because it had an interesting concept and it delivered on that concept enough to make me sit down after the credits started rolling and have a real think about it. That's what I look for in a movie and this one delivered.The movies main message is a man with a sad boring life going through a mid life crisis, trying to find an escape. He finds it in his dreams, now this is where the film gets me, because although I'm not depressed I too on many occasions I wish that I could go into a perfect world and never wake up. Now he must decide which one he wants, a real life or a dream world, this is where it gets a bit cliché but nothing you can't handle. Definatily a rental.
Lee Eisenberg
I didn't know anything about "The Good Night" when I turned it on...and I'm still not sure that I know what it was supposed to be about. Martin Freeman (of "The Office") plays Gary, a former pop star now in a pseudo-relationship with Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow). It looks as if his life is truly going nowhere, when he starts having fantasies featuring a strange woman (Penelope Cruz) who appears in advertisements. I think that that was the plot.I assume that the movie must be a look at Gary's being nearly at the end of his emotional rope, but I found it a little too weird to really follow. A movie dealing with this topic that I recommend is John G. Avildsen's "Save the Tiger", starring Jack Lemmon. Maybe I would have liked this one better had they elaborated on how Gary's experiences change his life - if at all - in the long run. Not terrible, but not one that I would recommend above all others.Also starring Danny DeVito and Michael Gambon.
