A 93-minute snooze button.
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Gary (Martin Freeman) is living under a strain these days. His girlfriend, Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow) doesn't respect him much, now that all he'd doing with his musical talent is cranking out jingles for TV commercials, and there's a gulf starting to form between the two of them. Naturally, it's most evident in the bedroom, where one only wants to read and the other wants total darkness and quiet for an early exit into dreamland. Not exactly a great way to live, and they both know it.
But then something odd happens to help, and hurt. Gary has an erotic dream about a beautiful young woman. Then he hears about a guru who coaches people in order to experience more vivid and lasting dreams (kind of like a metaphoric erection aid, in this context). What Mel (Danny DeVito) recommends to him is that he look at his hands right before drifting off to sleep, and that in the dream if he starts to feel it fade he should again look at his hands. Kind of like Pavlovian dreaming.
Unfortunately, given the emphasis on the dream-girl, the pathetic hang-dog way that Gary moves from frame to frame, and Freeman's short stature, tousled hair and slight resemblance to Dudley Moore, it's impossible not to think of "10" and sigh, been there, done that. Some of the scenes (as when we see Gary's dream-girl alone and walking on a beach) are even evocative of "10." Sure, it's a literal dream-girl in this case, and a stunning one (Penelope Cruz plays "Anna"), but "The Good Night" covers some pretty familiar ground, then keeps covering it an "About Last Night" meets "10" kind of way.
Since Gary's waking moments aren't all that great, he becomes more obsessed with creating a livable life while he's sleeping. He tapes up room-darkening and sound-blocking sheets of foam all over the windows (yeah, that helps his relationship) turns more inward than ever before. In short, he becomes a walking (waking) zombie who only seems interesting when he's doing a walk-and-talk with his real flesh-and-blood pal Paul (Simon Pegg). When these two are on-camera, the dialogue springs to life and the energy level rises-a kind of mocking meter that draws attention to how comparatively dull and lackluster the scenes can be when these two aren't together. Even the scenes with Freeman and an overly restrained Danny DeVito (whose character feels so sedate that you think he's sedated) can't compare with these zesty moments in an otherwise dull dramedy.
"The Good Night" was written and directed by Jake Paltrow (Gwyneth's brother), which explains how it came to be that she appears here in a non-starring role. But Paltrow's script and direction make it seem as if everyone's sleepwalking. Missing is the kind of snappy patter (again, except for scenes with Paul and Gary) that we saw in films like "About Last Night," and the sense of impeccable timing that supports wry comedies like those from Woody Allen. Instead, with overly long scenes and a general snooze-button feel, "The Good Night" feels much longer than its 93 minutes. Worse, though, is the soundtrack of cheesy music that feels overly saturated with sentiment and oddly incompatible with the mood or actions on-screen.
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