Jeffrey Brooks Martin Freeman plays a jingle writer whose life is all about playing it safe, while being a musician. Then, he begins to have random lucid dreams about an ideal woman, whom he becomes obsessed with.Martin's character wanders through the range of explorations that someone might go through in search of a way to make the dream girl real. These are classic endeavors, and quite funny.Finally he sees his dream girl on a poster on the side of a bus. He uses his connections in the advertising world to find out who she is, and to arrange a meeting. When he meets his dream girl in real life, played by Penélope Cruz,he finds her less than perfect on her interior.As a lucid dreamer I found this movie to be an impressive portrayal of what lucid dreaming can be like. Experiencing an ideal person, and feeling intense attraction for that person, are common themes in lucid dreaming. The beauty of this movie is Jake Paltrow (writer and director) got that the ideal person, in reality, might just be the wrong person.

Rishad This DVD popped up on my shelf randomly today, turning out to be a serendipitous find, and an enjoyable way to pass a rainy holiday afternoon. "The Good Night" tells a somewhat familiar tale; a musician trapped in a floundering relationship who seeks escape in the world of his dreams, and eventually finds solace in the arms of another woman in this dreamscape. Or does he?Starring none other than beloved hobbit Martin Freeman as Gary, the cast is well-supported by Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny DeVito, and the ever- gorgeous Penélope Cruz. The film starts off rather slow, dull and uninteresting, which in retrospect, fits in well with the overall storyline. One night, he dreams of meeting a strange, beautiful woman on the beach (Cruz, as Anna), but is awakened before he can go further. A turning point is reached when Gary seeks the advice of a lucid continuous dreaming expert (DeVito) and begins to see more and more of Anna, and eventually forms a dream-state relationship with her, gradually losing touch with his less-than-stellar reality.As mentioned, this is a somewhat familiar tale, and one that's been treated quite a bit in films. Starcrossed lovers who can only meet in dreams, dreams being better than real life, which part of the film is real, and which is not - they've all arguably been done before, but I still enjoyed this director's take on it. Particularly interesting was the slight "documentary" twist on theme, which I wasn't quite sure what to make of. All in all, worth a watch.

bloodymonday "The Good Night" is what Michel Gondry's "The Science of Sleep" would be like in your typical Hollywood production. It tried so hard to distinguish itself by having A-list cast and extra cool music. But without intriguing script and visual creativity, this story tends to be bland and pretty uninteresting. In the end, it just doesn't really have anything new to talk about.Gary Shaller (Martin Freeman) is at a crossroads in his life: his job is going nowhere, his wife, Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow), drives him crazy, and he passed his thirtieth birthday four years ago. Add to that his best friend Paul seems to become more successful every time he breathes. Gary is feeling depressed and dejected... until he meets Anna. She's beautiful and smart; she's sexy and funny. Best of all, she's crazy about Gary. Anna (Penelope Cruz) is the girl of Gary's dreams...literally. And that's the problem. Gary can only see Anna in his dream life, so he's got to find a way to carry on the most satisfying relationship of his life, in his dreams. His quest for lucid dreaming techniques introduces Gary to some crazy characters (that is Danny DeVito) who ultimately give him a new perspective on life (credited by IMDb) Nothing wrong with the story of people in midlife crisis and quest to find their soul mate (even you are already being with one). But, for me, the way they presented to us is pretty uninspired. "The Good Night" invite us to go into a deeper layer by examining a various phases of our protagonists. But once we're already feel attached to it, it just didn't really worth afford. We knew that Gary and Dora are unhappy married couple. He's depressed and she's desperate for something fresh in life once again. And we hope that, in the end, they're going to sort things out (whatever that is). Yes, they're finally sort things out. But it's unraveled in a sense of script-wise. For me, I found a difficult time to believe anything that happened in the last act, when Gary attempted to salvage his life.Speaking about the casts, "The Good Night" might have one of the best casts in such a small scale production. Martin Freeman and Simon Pegg are just amusing to watch (their jokes are hysterical and their rapport seemed casual). On the other hand, Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz are not entirely memorable (Especially Penelope who just having a very thankless role). And the character that Gwyneth (who might do a favor for her younger brother Jake in his directorial debut) played is just so mean and unpleasant to be around. Having she uttered a lot of f-words is completely unnecessary. And the worst part is she and Martin seemed to have zero chemistry (and that's not a good sign for this kind of film)."The Good Night" may neither break any new ground, nor has a potential to be a great one. But it's seemed harmless to watch. The story is easy to love and appreciate. The casts are just having a good time and it will definitely make you relax while watching it. And that's enough reason to take a look at this one.

kingofi88 The movie is amazing on most levels. It's actually a vision into a manic depressed soul who sees a light at the end of the tunnel. The light is in the form of the dream girl Anna (Penelope Cruz, who is absolutely stunning once again in this flick).He has a girlfriend that he has burned every bridge but they still have a deep love blanketed with layers of strife and arguments. Instead of working things through the ventures deep into his mind and tastes something in his dreams that he can get enough of. The dreams start taking control and start getting in the way, The entire time he feels that Anna can save him from his own routine depressed life.The movie starts getting a little weird when Anna walks into his life in human form.In my opinion this is a great movie for peering into the mind of a semi psychotic depressed soul. Exactly what a film should do, make you think on different levels.