Review of All Good Things (2010) by Lezlee H — 04 Dec 2010

There's a four-star front half to this flick that makes the rough-going last 30 minutes (almost) worth it. Directed with a lurching tempo by Andrew Jarecki (director of the great CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS), the fascinating true story of an unsolved crime becomes a bit of a slog to get through once the crime takes center stage, but before that, there's a great (maybe best-ever) performance rom Kirsten Dunst and the always-fascinating Ryan Gosling falling into complicated love to keep you watching.

It's once that love goes sour that things get a little sticky... From both narrative and a filmmaking standpoints, the thing just loses its way. It isn't always helped by one of its stars great qualities: Gosling, the king of minimalism, is amazing to watch, but because it's a crime drama, you may find yourself wishing for a little less subtlety when the man unravels, but that's just not what Gosling does.

I respect it, and usually love it, but here it doesn't necessarily help explicate the mysterious man at the center of this story. Still, the first hour is good enough that you might not care when the Very Special Law & Order episode that ends the film limps to its end.