Movie Review - All Good Things

All Good Things (2010)

Starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, and Frank Langella

Directed by Andrew Jarecki
***An early review -- The film opens in select cities throughout December***

All Good Things has apparently been sitting on the shelf for two years which, nine times out of ten, isn't a good sign for a movie.  While the film isn't a complete bust, it's little more than a true-crime Lifetime movie that simply ups the ante a little bit by showing us Kirsten Dunst's boobs.

Based on a true story in which the names have been changed to protect the innocent (and perhaps not-so-innocent), All Good Things tells the tale of David Marks (Ryan Gosling), the son of New York City real estate mogul Sanford Marks (Frank Langella).  Not only does David feel the pressure of living up to the prestige his father holds in the city, but he also has to deal with the psychological torment of having seen his mother kill herself as a young boy.  Although he attempts to put his past behind him when he meets the lovely Katie (Kirsten Dunst), it's nearly impossible for him to push away his demons.  Seeing as how I prefaced the review by saying this was a true crime tale, it's not difficult to infer that David may perhaps do something wrong in regards to his loved ones, but I'll leave the details as a bit of a mystery in case anyone desires to watch the flick without spoilers.

It really has been a long time since I've seen Kirsten Dunst in anything and I was watching it wondering how she got pushed out of the limelight after such a promising start.  She's actually quite good here -- probably the best actor the pic has to offer.  Her Katie is at first a wide-eyed innocent who, after seeing the seedy side of the Marks family, soon realizes that she may be in over her head.  As the head of the clan, Frank Langella is also quite good, effortlessly walking the line between sleeze and charm without going overboard on either.

Ryan Gosling, though, is supposed to be the person upon whom the movie revolves around and I, unfortunately, never was drawn in.  It's a difficult role to play, no doubt, partly because the real life case upon which this film is based remains unsolved.  Because of that (and because the film doesn't make any assumptions as to innocence or guilt), Gosling is asked to play David in a rather ambiguous way.  Is he a bad guy or just psychologically damaged (or are those even mutually exclusive to one another in his case)?  With the film not settling the score in regards to the crimes that take place within it, the viewer is left wondering how exactly we're supposed to relate to David.

The film isn't bad -- the technical aspects are all certainly more than adequate, as well -- but it just doesn't really garner any type of emotion from me either good or bad.  It's certainly a flick that were you flicking channels on the tv in a few months and came across it you may want to give it a chance, but it's not really satisfying in terms of the final product.

The RyMickey Rating:  C