Gone in the Night

Gone in the Night is a thriller suspense mystery with very few thrills, very little suspense, and a mystery that the lead character has very little interest in solving. Resulting in a movie that is hard to recommend but maybe also a little hard to actually hate. It’s well acted, the mystery is a thing that exists, and the characters go about their business. It’s… definitely a movie.

The flick stars Winona Ryder as a woman of a certain age who goes with her younger boyfriend to a cabin in the woods. They run into a young couple who have already rented the cabin and decide to stay the night and leave in the morning. But when her boyfriend and the younger woman run off together… umm… I guess there’s a mystery to solve?

The problem at the core of this movie is that Winona Ryder’s character just doesn’t care that her boyfriend ran off. She sees it as inevitable and she knows she should just move on with her life. Which… ummm… yeah… not sure why I should care either.

But the show must go on and mysteries are lackadaisically investigated and soon we learn there are layers to the story. Dermot Mulroney Grizzly Adams his way into the movie and it’s nice to see him lurking about. And… the younger woman has a certain Angelina-Jolie-in-Hacker look to her that I kind of vibed with.

But the whole movie has this ambling, disconnected, almost uninterested-in-its-own plot pacing and structure that makes it hard to really gel with. I guess I kind of liked it? Even with its 3rd act reveals kind of coming across as ambling as anything else.

So… wow… really sold this one, huh? Maybe see it, maybe don’t. Have ninety minutes to spare for a mystery the film makers only seemed half interested in just to see Winona Ryder star in a movie again? Or not.

Score: 71