The Good Night turned out pretty much to be nothing I expected, but then I guess my expectations were minimal. What did baffle me was the use of the word "Comedy" for the most part the film was on a real downer in respect of emotions, and with the exception of one line from Simon Pegg there are absolutely no laughs at all, though I have to admit there are a few highs. The biggest issue with The Good Night is that its a totally disorientating experience, its a British movie set in New York, with some of the exterior shots being filmed in New York, with others in London (pretending to be New York). The result is that you spend the movie asking yourself if the scene you have seen is in fact London on whether it's Lewisham.

Onto the story itself, The One were a big band during the 1990's, and from certain angles it seems that The One could actually have been Take That. Now many years on two members of the band Gary and Paul played by Freeman and Pegg respectively are living in New York and writing jingles for TV commercials. Ever the one accused of using Gary's talent to gain acclaim Paul positions himself in a high power job without telling Gary of his intentions, the result is that although Gary does the work Paul gets the praise and a massive promotion. This seems to be too much for Gary, and the depressive nature of his work and his relationship with Dora (Paltrow) really starts to get him down, the result is that Gary begins to have a "MIDLIFE CRISIS".

I can't tell you really how I feel about The Good Night, some elements are incredibly powerful and fulfilling, while others just make you wonder why you're watching it. Its certainly a very clever and thoughtful film, but with its casting I cant help but think that its missed the boat somehow, with Pegg and Freeman as primary leads your expecting to get some really good laughs and I appreciate that in my statement I'm typecasting them, but lets face it if you put those names together you'd probably expect a good laugh too. This is one of those movies that will probably come out with a whimper rather than a bang and 15 years down the line it will be looked upon as a magnificent cult classic and placed in the same category as 12 Angry Men, and the original Wicker Man. On the other hand it might be an all-round damp squib. I'd like to say I'm a little more refined when it comes to movies, I consider myself to be a bit of a connoisseur rather like someone is about cigars or wine, I never shut my eyes to subjects or topics, though my viewing choices are often very varied, as a result I guess I can look at The Good Night with better eyes, but I doubt that your £7 movie paying cinema audience will, and rather than voting with their cash they will vote with their feet, heading for the door. In fact I'd not be surprised if the movie never saw UK cinemas and headed straight for DVD, because the risk turns out not to be one worth taking for production companies.

Gwyneth Paltrow has never looked so dowdy and plain, in fact disturbing would be a good term. She spends much of the movie without make up, making her face look incredibly pale and her blue eyes very vivid. Her hair resembles something you pull out of a bush, and her styling is like a new age hippie, although the character that she plays is far from being one. I guess it takes a lot of courage to show what is fundamentally your real everyday self to an audience, but I guess if your going to do it for anyone why not do it for your brother.

Gambon and Allen's entry into the cast baffles me a bit too, as Gambon literally appears for all of five seconds and Allen appears several times for a few seconds but never once says a thing, and these are some of the first billed cast names.