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.

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.

What a big disappointment.But I had to expect it...the film The Good Night has an impressive cast but it was however kept "canned" for almost two years.Now,after its mediocre performance on various markets around the world,this uninteresting and very boring film was released on DVD in my country.The characters from this movie are superficial and this movie is composed by tedious scenes which lack of any energy or interest.The only thing which adds some points to this very poor movie are the performances from the previously mentioned cast,which in spite of dealing with bad material,can efficiently transmit to the spectator some of their respective talents,like humor (Martin Freeman and Simon Pegg),drama (Gwyneth Paltrow and Penélope Cruz) and indescribable presence (Danny DeVito and Michael Gambon).The Good Night was the first work as a director and screenwriter from Jake Paltrow (Gwyneth's brother),and although he could attract a very solid cast,he constructed a very weak screenplay while as a director,he could not find a good style,rhythm or tone for this movie.This may be a short commentary but I have already lost enough time with this movie,so as a final warning,I suggest you not to see it.

The idea is interesting enough. A musician in his thirties suffers from a major dip in his career and his relationship. But instead of addressing these problems, and have a serious talk with his girlfriend, the main character is more interested in explaining his childish dreams of a hot brunette. I didn't feel gripped for one minute by the story. And at the end, we are supposed to believe that Gary has surmounted his problems because the dreamgirl has said she for one believes in him. He composes a piano tune, gets one more chance from his girlfriend, and that's that. By the way, why has Paltrow used the documentary form? Was there anything to make a documentary about? The guy broke his leg, for heaven's sake. That's not to say there's nothing enjoyable about this film, but it's very little. It's okay if director's debut doesn't smash box office records or win three Palms in Venice. But Paltrow should dig deeper into his subject before making any other movie at all. No matter how good your cast is (and it's pretty decent), without good ideas, any film is bound to disappoint.