The Good Night

Cast & Crew

Penélope Cruz

Anna, Melodia

Martin Freeman

Gary

Gwyneth Paltrow

Dora

Simon Pegg

Paul

Danny DeVito

Mel

Keith Allen

Norman

Steffan Boje

Karlheinz

Sonia Doubell

Shawna

Jake Paltrow

Director

Jake Paltrow

Writer

Donna Gigliotti

Producer

Bill Johnson

Producer

Jim Seibel

Executive Producer

Robert Whitehouse

Executive Producer

Oliver Hengst

Executive Producer

Ernst-August Schneider

Executive Producer

Giles Nuttgens

Cinematographer

Rick Lawley

Film Editing

Alec Puro

Original Music

Eve Stewart

Production Design

Leon McCarthy

Art Director

Lisa McDiarmid

Art Director

Verity Hawkes

Costume Design

Nina Gold

Casting

Show all Cast & Crew

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Critic Reviews for The Good Night

Audience Reviews for The Good Night

• Jan 14, 2013

  Lackluster tale of a man torn between the iddylic dream life or the difficult, if more substantial, life in the real. Altho a nice middling story with okey-dokey dialogue, there's nada here to herald significant interest.
  

  kevin w Super Reviewer
• Jul 30, 2011

  Martin Freeman's performance is the best reason to check out this film. The film kind of reminded me of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I think they had a good idea for a film, but they didn't execute it correctly. The pacing is off. Simon Pegg and Danny DeVito are hilarious in the film. Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow provide solid support. For some reason Penelope Cruz's character here, reminded me a little bit of her character in Vanilla Sky.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Jan 27, 2011

  <b>"It's a full-on emotional exploration. Its not dangerous, but sometimes it's emotionally alarming...".</b> -Mel Great cast but otherwise this film misses where it should have hit. It is a strange story of love, fidelity, and escapism. Gary (Martin Freeman) is depressed and delves into lucid dreams. He obsesses about these lucid dreams...sleeping and sleeping...and carrying on a "dream" romance with the "perfect" woman. Not worth recommending.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Jun 13, 2010

  1.5/10 Some films make you feel great. Some films simply make you feel good. Some films make you feel A.OK, and then some make you feel just barely decent. And finally, some films make you feel just downright awful, and I'm sorry to say that "The Good Night" is without a doubt that kind of film. "The Good Night" essentially takes your sorrow and gives you even more misery, and I'll advise you now that it's not even worth sitting through. I've seen some pretty damn awful romantic comedies....but what the hell? "The Good Night" has to be among the dumbest, lamest ones. Jake Paltrow takes a bad concept and makes a film that's essentially all about it even worse than the concept itself. This is a truly rare occasion, and an annoying one to say the least. The only thing this film has going for it is a promising cast, although even that all goes to waste in time. The plot is just too muddled and pointless, and the message is too familiar and cheesy. Truly just a formulaic film and I have no idea what compelled me to watch it. Maybe it was Simon Pegg's presence, but even then I hated the film. It's just a bottomless pit of endless disappointment. From beginning to end, this is basically a "torture film" as in, "It's so boring that you will want to commit suicide". Yes, it's that bad. It's that horrific. Might as well watch this in substitute for any horror film, because at least horror films have the ability to be good. A film such as this simply doesn't have the general appeal needed. It's just so ridiculously bland and depressing. No film should have to be like that. Not even a film that's in the "romantic comedy" genre. "The Good Night" is the story of a low-life named Gary who is having all kinds of trouble in life. He and his girlfriend are having various problems, he's not successful in his work, and he is currently having lucid dreams about another woman who he calls Ana. These lucid dreams compel him to confront an enthusiastic man named Mel, who may be able to give him some sort of general guidance. Gary buys books which could very well help him, although he continues to have these "dreams", and he can't keep them a secret forever. His girlfriend leaves him for a while partially due to these "dreams", and soon Gary doesn't know what to do with himself anymore. He has little to no friends, and his dreams are soon rendering his perception of reality. He discovers that the "woman of his dreams" does indeed exist, although she is not as Gary had imagined her. She doesn't warm up to Gary easily, and the two just essentially don't "hit it off". From then on Gary basically continues being depressed, and ultimately is forced to accept that chasing your dreams is wrong, and reality is what is of most importance. Such a familiar message. And as if things couldn't get any worse, the plot is just...boring. There's nothing new, it's entirely well-worn, formulaic, and the plot structure is very weak. Even the dream sequences are weak. And dreams should be at least mildly interesting. These dreams don't even have the visual appeal that a dream should have. Instead they're boring and pointless to the point where they're even inferior to the live action sequences. As I said, "The Good Night" has a somewhat promising cast. Martin Freeman plays the lead role with absolutely no emotion, no character, and essentially no appeal. His performance is so predictable that it almost renders his otherwise comedic career. Gwyneth Paltrow surprisingly puts on a disappointing performance, and she (like Freeman) is way too predictable. Danny Devito........damn him. He's just stupid. He's so unnecessary that you don't even need to question why he's there to begin with. Penelope Cruz is also fairly bad, considering she's not even that great of an actor to begin with. But there's just nothing special about her performance. Even the cameos, which include Michael Gambon and Jarvis Cocker, are better than the actual cast. "The Good Night" is also a "bland night" at the movies. There's nothing "good" about this movie. There's nothing special about the cinematography...in fact, sometimes it looks rather sloppy, and the picture quality is pretty bad at times. And it's not just the visuals. This whole mess of a film is bland from beginning to end. When it comes to the music, I liked it at first. But then I heard the same tune over and over again, to the point where the film might as well NOT have a soundtrack to begin with. So afterwards, it just became too depressing. There's a good kind of depressing, in the sense where the film is powerful due to the sorrow and sadness. But then there's a film such as this, which involves a depressing plot as well as disappointing aftertaste. The humor is dry and bland. I didn't laugh once in the film, primarily because it's simply so bad that it's impossible to like it the slightest bit. It's not even entertaining. Trust me; it's worth missing by all means. I couldn't stand this film for the most part. And I never will be able to, because it's just a bad, bad film. Avoid it like the flu, and then keep your hour and a half. There's plenty of amazing film with the same run time, and they WILL be worth your while. This simply isn't that kind of film, and it didn't entertain me the slightest bit. Not funny, not creative, and certainly not triumphant, this is just so bland. So very bland. Even blander than some of cinema's worst romantic comedies. Again, this is among the worst romantic comedies ever made. But sadly, there has indeed been worse. At least "The Good Night" doesn't always attempt to be deeply romantic, but even if it did, the film would fail ultimately. Simply put, nothing in this world can save this film from ultimate failure.
  

  Super Reviewer