David Marks (Ryan Gosling) is the rebel son of the billionaire real estate investor Sanford Marks (Frank Langella). While David’s brother Daniel (Michael Esper) has embraced the corporate and rich lifestyle, David is just happy getting high and dating the beautiful Katie (Kirsten Dunst) whose warm and middle-class upbringing couldn’t have been more different to David’s. David’s father is cold, ambitious and used to getting his way. So it doesn’t take long for him to convince David that Katie will only be happy if they have a comfortable life.
So David starts working for his dad. And Katie begins to get to know the more dangerous side of David. David, as a kid, has witnessed his own mother’s suicide and has found a way to bury all the fury. But as Katie wants to have kids and later follow her dreams of being a med student, we get to see a side of David that even makes his father seem mild and kind in comparison.
Will Katie be able to save this marriage with an increasingly unstable David? Or better yet, will she able to save herself?
**
All Good Things, as stated in the beginning of the movie, was inspired by a true missing person’s story that still remains a missing person’s case today. Katie’s disappearance is not a twist to be spoiled, as the trailer and the tagline spell it out for us: the perfect love story until it becomes the perfect crime…
And while All Good Things is not a perfect movie, the crimes committed in the film, as well as Ryan Gosling’s performance are indeed perfect. This is a mystery/drama with some thrilling aspects that get its spookiness from the transformation of David. Of course the sane and the smart viewer will eventually deem Katie for being stupid and naïve for staying that long, and eventually bringing it on herself. After all, David’s actions started becoming alarming the moment he started listening to his dad…
All Good Things’ pace sometimes requires patience. The tension the movie is building threatens to become boring, although it never does. Obviously, this is not a film to watch to have a simple good time. But no matter how depressing it is, it is a story well-told with good actors.
Currently 6.4 on IMDB. Fair enough.
Fun notes:
– Kirsten Dunst played a vampire when she was 12. Her sires/parents were vampires Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and the movie was Interview with the Vampire.
– Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig has a small role in the film.
