When I first looked at the poster for All Good Things, three things occurred to me:
– I thought this movie was called Blue Valentine.
– Someone dug up Kirsten Dunst from irrelevancy and randomly put her in a movie.
– Another run of the mill romance movie.
But alas, as a Journalist I should walk into this movie with a blank slate. Questions swirled as I waited for the film to roll. Will I be sickened by another stereotypical love story? Will Kirsten Dunst’s weird teeth distract me? Is it really true Ryan Gossling drank melted ice cream for “The Lovely Bones” only to be fired? Man that sucks.
I was getting off track, but I managed to clear my thoughts once the opening credits rolled. A few minutes into the film, I realized I was in for a completly different movie.
When I first looked at the poster for All Good Things, three things occurred to me:
– I thought this movie was called Blue Valentine.
– Someone dug up Kirsten Dunst from irrelevancy and randomly put her in a movie.
– Another run of the mill romance movie.
But alas, as a Journalist I should walk into this movie with a blank slate. Questions swirled as I waited for the film to roll. Will I be sickened by another stereotypical love story? Will Kirsten Dunst's weird teeth distract me? Is it really true Ryan Gossling drank melted ice cream for "The Lovely Bones" only to be fired? Man that sucks.
I was getting off track, but I managed to clear my thoughts once the opening credits rolled. A few minutes into the film, I realized I was in for a completly different movie.
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David (Ryan Gosling) and Katie (Dunst) are two lovebirds from separate walks of life that fall in love. Katie comes from a working class family and David is an heir to a lucrative real estate empire. When Katie starts becoming independent and starts going to school, David’s dark past and controlling ways come to light, leaving Katie to suffer with his abuse until one night, she just disappears.
Prior to All Good Things, Director Andrew Jarecki was mainly known for Capturing The Friedmans, a documentary about a family dealing with a dark past/tragedy. All Good Things seems to take a cue from his previous works, as court testimony weaves into the narrative and reveals plot points, as well as segments from David’s mysterious past. What makes this form of narrative very interesting is that not all of the testimony is true, leaving the viewer to figure out what is happening for themselves while revealing the lie exclusively to the viewer.
Sadly, the same testimony narrative is also responsible for the story’s disjointed timeline, resulting in awkward jumps in time that go back and forth with dizzying results. Also what ends up happening is that the movie gets split into two, affecting the flow of it all to a point where you're not as invested in the second half as you were in the first half. It's a bold move, granted, but it ends up being Story A vs. Story B rather than Story A into Story B.
The plot isn’t anything special and it doesn’t set itself apart from other thrillers. Other than the fact that the film is based on the actual events of real estate mogul Robert Durst, there’s not much in the way of story or mystery. Although I was totally unfamiliar with the actual case, it was all still very predictable. Add that to the movies disjointed storytelling, and All Good Things becomes a bit of a haze, leaving you at the credits wondering how exactly it is you got here.
That’s not to say it was a terrible movie. Its lackluster plot is heavily aided by Dunst and Gosling’s performances. Though there’s little to no chemistry between them, it plays out really well in this film as Dunst’s good nature is countered by Gosling’s stoic coldness, setting up an unnerving tension throughout the film. Kirsten Dunst especially surprised me, adding more substance to the role of free spirited love interest she so often plays. My only complaints with the performances is that there isn’t enough Kirsten Dunst (something I thought I’d ever say) and Gosling's prosthetics in the latter half of the film takes away from his performance as his appearance is plain bad and laughable. Also, for me personally, a highlight was seeing Nick Offerman (or as I lovingly call him, Ron “Duke Silver” Swanson) in his short role as Katie’s older brother.
Overall Score: 6.80 – Okay. 6s are just okay. These movies usually have many flaws, didn’t try to do anything special, or were poorly executed. Some will still love 6s, but most prefer to just rent them. Watch more trailers and read more reviews before you decide.
All in all, All Good Things only has some good things (see what I did there!?) going for it. Though performances from Gosling and Dunst carry the film, the plot and pacing are displaced enough to hold it back. Add on a predictable mystery, and what you get is a showcase for strong acting performances, interesting narrative devices and unnerving tension that could’ve been so much more than what it turned out to be.
