THE GOOD NIGHT WAS INDEED GOOD"Sometimes I wish that you could just hit the sack and never wake up. If your favorite song never ended, or your best book never closed, if the emotions mustered from these things would just go on and on, who wouldn't want to stay asleep? The guy who discovers that perpetual dream, he's my man."
This is the theory taught by Jack-of-all-trades, Mel (Danny Devito) who teaches a 'class' in lucid dreaming at the community center. That is the movie, in a nutshell. Gary (Martin Freedman) is the epitome of the walking dead. He is a musician at heart, once a pop star, who is forced to dampen his creative spirit for the bill-paying world of commercial jingles. Gwyneth Paltrow is Dora, Gary's girlfriend but is is neither a girl or a friend. She could dampen the room by merely walking in to it. She is draining the life force from Gary one day at a time. The only one with genuine heart is seemingly Gary, but it is sad and lays dying in his chest like dead weight. Until one day... or should I say night, Gary meets a beautiful woman, Anna (Penelope Cruise). She is alluring, mesmerizing and above all, she likes him;
perhaps adores him. It's like she was waiting for Gary to fall asleep so he could join her in this blissful dream world. Then he wakes up. He goes on a quest of sorts to figure out how to use lucid dreaming to spend as much time as possible with this woman, enter Mel (Danny DeVito). This film is lovely. In the same vein of Vanilla Sky (also with Penelope Cruise) the lines between real world and dream world are blurred.We are brought to a climax with the conventional ending, fooled intentionally and then like real life, BAM... I rarely flinch or gasp aloud, even with scary movies. This ending hits the audience upside the face and we never saw it comin'. Obviously I won't get into details. This movie is a lovely look at the human spirit and how basic our needs can be. It is a creative and well thought out original film. The characters are fresh and dynamic, but above all else, real.
perhaps adores him. It's like she was waiting for Gary to fall asleep so he could join her in this blissful dream world. Then he wakes up. He goes on a quest of sorts to figure out how to use lucid dreaming to spend as much time as possible with this woman, enter Mel (Danny DeVito). This film is lovely. In the same vein of Vanilla Sky (also with Penelope Cruise) the lines between real world and dream world are blurred.We are brought to a climax with the conventional ending, fooled intentionally and then like real life, BAM... I rarely flinch or gasp aloud, even with scary movies. This ending hits the audience upside the face and we never saw it comin'. Obviously I won't get into details. This movie is a lovely look at the human spirit and how basic our needs can be. It is a creative and well thought out original film. The characters are fresh and dynamic, but above all else, real.PICK: Interesting look at the reality of relationships as well as the reality with ourselves.
