Saw the world premiere showing of the Good Night at the Sundance Film Festival last week and have come to report back on my findings. Was really looking forward to this one, story sounded interesting in an Eternal Sunshine kinda way, and the cast is top notch. The Good Night stars Martin Freeman as former brit pop star Gary, who hasn't exactly been doing a whole lot since his famed band went on the skids. Gary lives a less then fulfilling life with his long time girlfriend Dora, played by the excellent Gywenth Paltrow, and keeps company with successful ex bandmate Paul, played by the hilarious Simon Pegg. Gary spends his days doing meaningless commercial gigs in which his creative talents are kept in check in order to create more familiar music that sounds like the theme from "Cheers". Understandably Gary needs an outlet from his less then stellar career and from his almost non-existent relationship with Dora. One night Garys finds that outlet in his dreams, more specifically in the perfect female form played by Penelope Cruz. Desperate to escape reality Gary finds himself wanting more to live in his sleeping life then in his real life and he finds an unusual guide in Mel, played by Danny Devito. Mel mentors Gary on this lucid dreaming and soon Gary finds himself mastering his dreams, but in reality his good nights are turning into bad days.
Sounds interesting but does it work, well not so much. Much like a dream the story is scatter shot and incomplete. We only get a glimpse into the characters lives and as the story goes along we still don't have a lot of info here. Does Gary want to be a pop star again, is he jealous of the success of his friend, does he really care about his girlfriend - did he ever and whats so special about his dream girl? Gary is as lost in life as he is on the audience, he feels distant as do most of the characters here, aside from the amusing Paul. In the end this movie just doesn't quite work out, maybe it wasn't supposed just like a dream. All that being said its a nice first movie by Jake Paltrow, he's got a good vision and his effort here is obviously promising but frankly the story was beneath his directing talents. As for the actors, Martin Freeman, Gywenth, Devito - all very good work but again the story just is so-so and the acting can't save that. The Good Night, just a decent night at the movies
