'The Good Night'

"The Good Night" (Yari) is a meandering New York-based (though filmed in London) tale of Gary (Martin Freeman), a musician who was once part of a successful rock band, but is now a complacent commercial-jingle writer.

His relationship with live-in girlfriend Dora (a brunette Gwyneth Paltrow) has soured, and he begins to fantasize about an idealized woman named Anna (Penelope Cruz). The film was, by the way, written and directed by Jake Paltrow, the actress's brother, in his feature-film debut. With the help of Mel (Danny DeVito), a New Age expert on so-called "lucid dreams," Gary endeavors to conjure Anna in his sleep to escape his increasing doldrums, even taking refuge in daytime naps so he can be with her. But then one day, Gary spies his dream girl's visage on a bus poster - just the woman he's been fixating on - and when he tells the remarkable occurrence to his best friend, Paul (Simon Pegg), a former bandmate and now a successful advertising executive, Paul surprises Gary by actually hiring the woman, whose real name is Melodia, to be the "face of refreshment" in a photo shoot. When she and the awestruck Gary later go on a platonic date, Gary finds that the real Anna is not the paragon he imagined. Freeman's hangdog Everyman persona is extremely likable, and the other performances are decent, including a cameo by Michael Gambon as a best-selling writer on dreams. But Gwyneth Paltrow and Cruz have particularly thankless roles. There's the germ of an interesting movie here, but for the most part viewers may, like Gary, find themselves seeking refuge in sleep. The film contains pervasive rough language and casual profanity, crude expressions and sexual references, a nonmarital living arrangement, brief upper female nudity, sexual groping and implied masturbation. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L - limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R - restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. - - - Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops