All Good Things (2010)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Nicki M

  
  Good, but had an unsatisfying ending. (which obviously can't be helped since it was based on a true story and the truth was never found out there either. I so hope Katie ran away and disappeared, but sadly it seems pretty likely she was murdered. Kirsten Dunst and Ryan Gosling… More
  Good, but had an unsatisfying ending. (which obviously can't be helped since it was based on a true story and the truth was never found out there either. I so hope Katie ran away and disappeared, but sadly it seems pretty likely she was murdered. Kirsten Dunst and Ryan Gosling are both great here. I did feel that Kirsten really made this movie and it got duller once she disappeared, but still an interesting and creepy story. Really makes you pity what some women feel they have to put up with in a relationship.

• Melvin W

  
  David Marks: Look at her. I swear to God, I didn't even know that people like her existed. She's perfect.  "The Perfect Love Story. Until It Became The Perfect Crime." I expected a lot from All Good Things, maybe a little too much. The story was intriguing and… More
  David Marks: Look at her. I swear to God, I didn't even know that people like her existed. She's perfect.  "The Perfect Love Story. Until It Became The Perfect Crime." I expected a lot from All Good Things, maybe a little too much. The story was intriguing and the film has Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst in it. The film is well acted by them, but their performances aren't enough to lift this film above watchable. The film is bleak and dark, and it should be, so it did get the mood right. But it was also extremely dull. I never felt suspense or even felt like director Andrew Jarecki wanted the viewer to feel anything towards the story.  The story is based on a true story. David is the son of a rich and successful man, but his life has been nothing great. He watched his mother jump to her death when he was seven years old and, as one would expect, it messed him up pretty severely. He meets Katie when he goes over to look at a sink leak in her apartment and they hit it off, and end up getting married. Neither of the couples families are ecstatic about the marriage, especially David's father. Then from there the plot goes from a loving couple to marital problems quickly. It never feels like the couple loved each other, even as David says how perfect Katie is. I wouldn't go as far as to say the movie isn't well made because it is beautifully shot and the music is great. It is just that the overall feelings one should get from watching a movie about this subject is completely missing. After watching it, I was left feeling empty about this story. It wasn't chilling, but I could tell where it should have been. I never got a real feeling that Jarecki even cared about this subject. It seemed that he was just making it to kill some time or something. It isn't totally worthless because nothing ever is, when it has either Gosling or Dunst. It is just disappointing because it never reaches a point where it feels like it should have gone.

• Bethany M

  
  Depsite this being a very slow start, you are already captivated by the fact it is a true story. Ryan Gosling is one of my all time favourite actors and he never fails to dissapoint. He played the part perfectly and I very much enjoyed this. It still scares me that the killer is still… More
  Depsite this being a very slow start, you are already captivated by the fact it is a true story. Ryan Gosling is one of my all time favourite actors and he never fails to dissapoint. He played the part perfectly and I very much enjoyed this. It still scares me that the killer is still out there being able to live his life normally after what he's done. It also frightened me to learn that he was watching the set from a far. Very creepy.

• paul s

  
  As an adaptation of a real life crime event, "All Good Things" ain't no "Reversal of Fortune". Manipulative, out of focus and disjointed, this effort is a train wreck, saved perhaps only by the menacing, yet buttoned down performance of Frank Langella who… More
  As an adaptation of a real life crime event, "All Good Things" ain't no "Reversal of Fortune". Manipulative, out of focus and disjointed, this effort is a train wreck, saved perhaps only by the menacing, yet buttoned down performance of Frank Langella who portrays the Marks' family patriarch. The screen play seems to focus on all the wrong things, showing little artsy slices of life without any buildup or any attempt to give the audience any clue as to why Ryan Gossling's heir apparent, or his wife Kirsten Dunst behave in the manner they do (other than the childhood shock Gossling receives, which should have nothing to do with his change from what appears to be a regular guy, into some misanthropic freak). I suppose you could take this in part as a father son drama - the dynamic is certainly there, but once again, when the emotional payoff comes, about 3/4 through the film, it seems overwrought and then gets left in the dust by the goofy last quarter which tries to tie in the court proceeding theme that begins the film. The film starts nicely enough, giving "home movie" footage of the Marks family and hinting at something deeper under the surface, especially concerning Gossling's mother, and as the actual film begins there is a rather nice touch of a voiceover who is obviously an attorney, asking Gossling to "start at the beginning" and relate his childhood. While this is a nice touch, I don't believe that any jury would want to sit through hours (or days) of an alleged killer's recollections and reflections on his life. But that backdrop gives the screenplay the opportunity to present the "facts", which, at least for a time, seem entertaining. You have Gossling as a seemingly regular guy who beholden to his father's vast fortune, is at his beck and call. He charms Dunst, who seems charming and real but somehow vague throughout, and they ultimately marry and move away from NYC and daddy's demands. They seem to have a nice, intimate, idyllic existence, but then things slide off the rails, both for the characters and the film. For reasons unexplained, Gossling succumbs to daddy's pressure and rejoins the firm in NYC. Next thing you know he's become standoffish and, as the film seems to unnecessarily focus on, both he and Dunst get into drugs - he pot and she coke. Gossling becomes more and more bizarre, odd and wound too tight; taken to long periods of silent brooding, followed by outbursts of rage. Dunst wails that she had never been closer to a person, yet now seems to not know him at all. Just as the pair could have told daddy to take a hike and continue their quaint country lives, Dunst could have left Gossling, but for some reason (money, the film suggests, even though that seems to run totally against the character the film presents at the beginning of the film), she stays with him... until.... I'm not going to reveal what leads to the "case", but will comment that there are several roll your eyes in disbelief moments, some ridiculous pointless scenes and terrible pacing. The end result is that the film squanders its solid beginning by wallowing in a puddle of pointless scenes where you become as disconnected with the characters and the film itself as the two main characters had become to not only each other, but themselves. I for one ended up not caring what happened to any of them. Director Andrew Jarecki sure made a mess out of this one, and he can't really blame the script as he was listed as co-writer.

• Thomas J

  
  There is very little that Ryan Gosling does that I do not like. He always brings a powerhouse performance. The story begins to drag a bit, but Ryan's performance kept my attention!

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"The Perfect Love Story. Until It Became The Perfect Crime."</i> A love story and murder mystery based on the most notorious unsolved murder case in New York history. The original screenplay uses newly discovered facts, court records and speculation as the… More
  <i>"The Perfect Love Story. Until It Became The Perfect Crime."</i> A love story and murder mystery based on the most notorious unsolved murder case in New York history. The original screenplay uses newly discovered facts, court records and speculation as the foundation for a story of family, obsession, love and loss. <center><font size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook"><b><u>REVIEW</u></b></font></center> Here's a story that was dramatic in life and equally dramatic on paper, as a story pitch. What doesn't sound thrilling, in Hollywood terms, about a latent psychopath man, his aging older power hungry father, and a charming young innocent woman caught up in a struggle for happiness and wealth? And so "All Good Things" had all the right things to get going. On top of that, the three actors are all excellent in their own ways, Ryan Gosling, Frank Langella, and Kirsten Dunst, respectively. What falters is something more subtle, some combination of screen writing (that magic of turning an idea into something concrete) and direction (that hard technical and aesthetic work of pulling it all off). It turns out that the screenwriters are both first timers, and the director has one other film to his credit, so there is probably a sense of figuring things out that is evident here. The movie lacks elegance, for sure, though it doesn't lack intensity at times, using well-worn but necessary tricks (girl arrives at night into dark room and man is waiting in shadows for her, etc.). Not that this is a bad movie. The story itself grows and multiplies even as the characters remain somewhat thin. The one character who get complicated is the leading man, Gosling's David Marks, the troubled son who knows he's troubled and tries to hide it and eventually cannot. You can ask of course deep questions about why this man turned so rotten, and the answer the film provides is that his father pushed him relentlessly in a dirty business rife with secrecy and power. That he didn't find salvation in the "perfect" Kirsten Dunst (who was never demanding, always supportive and loving, etc., to the point of simplicity) is part of his own tragedy. Ultimately this is a simple story about guy who, as his father said to his face, was a "weak man." And if this is a movie about a weak man being trapped by circumstances and therefore given a license to violence, it doesn't reveal or express those qualities in ways that would sway or disturb us. We are mostly reminded that it really happened, and that the guy is still out there selling real estate.

• jay n

  
  Good acting but poorly paced.

• Jake .

  
  It really isn't always the most prudent to typecast. I really hadn't expected much from this as it seemed to have a bit of a botched production and then failed to be picked up by any significant studio or ever recieve a proper release of any kind. It may have went straight… More
  It really isn't always the most prudent to typecast. I really hadn't expected much from this as it seemed to have a bit of a botched production and then failed to be picked up by any significant studio or ever recieve a proper release of any kind. It may have went straight to dvd, I'm not sure. Anyway, the stars did not appear to be aligned for an amazing picture. And that's true, it's not amazing at all, but it isn't bad. Really, I would go so far as to say that I found it incredibly engaging and enjoyable. The story kind of jumps from genre to genre and whenever it seems like it's going one direction to does a complete 180. That kind of bugged me, but then again, how often do we all complain about films being predictable? Overall, it's enjoyable enough to watch and definitely unduly overlooked.

• familiar s

  
  Inspired from actual events, the film excels basically in direction [I guess that Andrew Jarecki chose film to documentary due to his prior (sore) experience with "Capturing The Friedmans".], screenplay, editing, and acting departments. While I was left unimpressed by Ryan… More
  Inspired from actual events, the film excels basically in direction [I guess that Andrew Jarecki chose film to documentary due to his prior (sore) experience with "Capturing The Friedmans".], screenplay, editing, and acting departments. While I was left unimpressed by Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine, he surely came across as a revelation here. Unfortunately, the movie isn't received as well as it's made. The extent to which this story is true baffles me. Strange world we live in!!!

• Steven C

  
  "All Good Things" is like a high class Lifetime movie. The juicy true story of one of New York City's most infamous unsolved mysteries is involving enough to keep your attention. The performances are uniformly great with Kirsten Dunst standing out. You have never seen… More
  "All Good Things" is like a high class Lifetime movie. The juicy true story of one of New York City's most infamous unsolved mysteries is involving enough to keep your attention. The performances are uniformly great with Kirsten Dunst standing out. You have never seen her like this before. But where the film fails is that we and the filmmakers have no idea who David Marks is. I don't think David Marks knows who he is. He is a twisted man with a twisted life that has added up to a ton of unanswered questions. A documentary on the subject would have proved much more interesting but as it stands, "All Good Things" is enticing but leaves you out in the cold.

• Jennifer X

  
  Kirsten Dunst is all beautiful and sparkly in this, it seems a shame that Ryan Gosling simply cannot act in this.

• Cynthia S

  
  A rather dark and brooding film. Ryan Gosling, and Kirsten Dunst, are really good in this story based on the true life alleged crimes of Robert Durst. Gosling is downright scary in the intensely quiet way that his character evolves, and you so empathize with sweet wife character… More
  A rather dark and brooding film. Ryan Gosling, and Kirsten Dunst, are really good in this story based on the true life alleged crimes of Robert Durst. Gosling is downright scary in the intensely quiet way that his character evolves, and you so empathize with sweet wife character (Dunst). The movie does get a little tedious as it follows the crimes of Robert Durst (David Marks) to Texas. It is a frustrating movie that made me afterwards read up on the Durst case. Very interesting, and maybe not for everyone...

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella, Lily Rabe, Philip Baker Hall, Michael Esper, Diane Venora, Nick Offerman, Kristen Wiig, Stephen Kunken Director: Andrew Jarecki Summary: After restless real-estate scion David Marks (Ryan Gosling) weds middle-class beauty… More
  Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella, Lily Rabe, Philip Baker Hall, Michael Esper, Diane Venora, Nick Offerman, Kristen Wiig, Stephen Kunken Director: Andrew Jarecki Summary: After restless real-estate scion David Marks (Ryan Gosling) weds middle-class beauty Katie McCarthy (Kirsten Dunst) against the wishes of his disapproving father (Frank Langella), suspicions of murder fall on the unmoored heir when his wife mysteriously vanishes. Though he's not indicted in her disappearance, people with ties to the case begin turning up dead when it's reopened two decades later -- and the unhinged David is the prime suspect. My Thoughts: "Murder, mystery, suspense, and a true story, a great line-up for one intense film. This is probably one of the stronger performances I have seen from Kirsten Dunst in quite some time. She was really good in the film. Ryan Gosling is a huge favorite of mine, and he continues to impress me with these types of roles he takes on and does great in them. The movie was intense for me throughout the film. I have been around someone similar to David, and it is always a ticking bomb waiting to go off. You never know what will set them off to explode. Their physically there, but you can see in their eyes that their not 'there' with you. David (Ryan) has that look a lot in this film. David Marks witnessed something awful as a child, and is what has obviously triggered his quiet, sometimes monstrous, disturbing behavior. The ending is unsatisfying, but that's only because Katie Marks was never found and you get no insight on what really happened to her. But of course you will feel David Marks is indeed guilty, especially since he is being tried for the murders of those who had ties to the case. It's a film worth seeing."

• Fernando Rafael Q

  
  Modest, well-shot drama worth watching for its three lead performances. Ryan Gosling is haunting and profoundly unsettling. As his domineering father, Frank Langella leaves a mark with significantly less screen time than his costars. Kirsten Dunst goes through a mostly physical change… More
  Modest, well-shot drama worth watching for its three lead performances. Ryan Gosling is haunting and profoundly unsettling. As his domineering father, Frank Langella leaves a mark with significantly less screen time than his costars. Kirsten Dunst goes through a mostly physical change throughout the film but nevertheless renders a decent performance (although the role deserved someone with a little more range). Great score helps set the eerie tone of All Good Things and the remarkable makeup work convincingly ages Gosling, but it's here where his otherwise flawless performance falters. At the courtroom scenes, his character has aged around 30 years, something we can easily see in his facial features and his hair, now grey and scarce. But Gosling's David Marks has only changed in appearance; his mannerisms and voice remain exactly the same as when he was a young man. Actually, from that point on, everything sort of falls down; it's like a whole different movie, dangerously giving in to its cheesy, overdramatic side.

• Luke B

  
  Starring two of my favorite actors, this film had high expectations from me. All Good Things is a bit pudgy around the edges for it to be considered great. The film is a mystery, only one with answers. We get answers to a different case and it all feels a bit empty. Maybe it was… More
  Starring two of my favorite actors, this film had high expectations from me. All Good Things is a bit pudgy around the edges for it to be considered great. The film is a mystery, only one with answers. We get answers to a different case and it all feels a bit empty. Maybe it was Jarecki's idea to have the film as empty as the protagonist, but it leaves a mostly hollow feeling. As Gosling's anger and mental instability start to shake his marriage it's hard to care because the relationship was built upon so quickly. Sure he's cute enough, as is Dunst, but the reason for their attraction is never quite explored. It trudges along a familiar thriller route, before jumping forward in time, having Gosling aged and disguised as a woman, and a number of murders that do not go towards solving the main plot of the story. Dark and chilling sometimes, but I always felt as though I was waiting for something.

• Manu G

  
  Inspired by the most notorious missing person's case in New York history... wow I though this movie was gonna be better than this, seeing I love the actors in this film I was excited but at the end of this film I couldn't believe what a mess they made with a movie with so… More
  Inspired by the most notorious missing person's case in New York history... wow I though this movie was gonna be better than this, seeing I love the actors in this film I was excited but at the end of this film I couldn't believe what a mess they made with a movie with so much potential, the movie is decent but the story wasn't that well develop and the acting was just mediocre. A love story and murder mystery based on the most notorious unsolved murder case in New York history. The original screenplay uses newly discovered facts, court records and speculation as the foundation for an imaginative spellbinding story of family, obsession, love and loss.

• Rubia Carolina .

  
  All Good Things is pretty much like any other movie of the genre. The story itself, too. It's just incredible that Robert Durst (David Marks, in the movie) was acquitted of murder with such a cold-blooded nature. </br> </br>

• Walter M

  
  "All Good Things" starts with David Marks(Ryan Gosling), under questioning, recalling his memories in 8mm. Of particular interest is when he met Katie(Kirsten Dunst), who has just moved to New York City from Mineola, in 1972 in a valiant attempt to repair her plumbing,… More
  "All Good Things" starts with David Marks(Ryan Gosling), under questioning, recalling his memories in 8mm. Of particular interest is when he met Katie(Kirsten Dunst), who has just moved to New York City from Mineola, in 1972 in a valiant attempt to repair her plumbing, before inviting her to a soiree to meet his very disapproving father(Frank Langella). David and Katie quickly fall in love and move to Vermont where they open a health food store but he is lured back to New York by his slumlord father to be a bag man. When asked by Katie, David mentions his firm intention to never have kids. "All Good Things" has certain things going for it like restrained performances and the excellent period detail such as the good old days of 42nd Street. But man is this movie a hard slog to get through, for most of it. Nowhere does it say in depecting a miserable marriage that a movie also has to make the viewer just as unhappy. As inspired by a true story, the screenplay fails to make much of a case, either criminally or behaviorally, as it desperately seeks a simple explanation for David's behavior. Even more problematic than the script is the editing, as the last 30 minutes, bughouse as they are, are the only part that truly comes alive and should have been used as a springboard for briefly recalling David's past life, in a sort of, aren't you the guy whose... ?

• Glenn G

  
  From the director who brought us the creepy documentary, CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS comes the equally creepy narrative debut, ALL GOOD THINGS. A true missing persons mystery disguised as a portrait of a doomed marriage, the film plays like a cross between REVERSAL OF FORTUNE and… More
  From the director who brought us the creepy documentary, CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS comes the equally creepy narrative debut, ALL GOOD THINGS. A true missing persons mystery disguised as a portrait of a doomed marriage, the film plays like a cross between REVERSAL OF FORTUNE and Hitchcock. It's really strange yet compellingly so. Spanning from the 70's to the early 2000s, we see a romance develop between Gosling, an heir to a real estate fortune, and Dunst, a sweet Long Island girl. Frank Langella is diabolically commanding as Gosling's father, who resists this common girl coming into his family. A stunning moment occurs early on when Langella casually insists on splitting a restaurant tab with Dunst's mother, when it's clear he can afford to pay it himself. As time goes by and their perfect marriage heats up, Gosling slowly but surely begins to display signs of mental illness, causing Dunst to realize that she doesn't know very much about the man she married. Bit by bit, things start to unravel. To say more would spoil the truly bizarre developments. Gosling is scary and sinister here. He remains a bit of an enigma, but you never want to take your eyes off of this great actor. Bonus points: Between this and BLUE VALENTINE, we now have no doubts as to what he will look like in 30 years time. Great job on makeup in this film. Dunst does some of her best acting here, giving a stunning performance as a woman who loses that spark and becomes more and more desperate. One shot of her sitting in a club booth after having done cocaine for the first time, is unforgettably vivid. This is a raw, intense, lived-in performance and bodes well for an exciting career as she graduates into more adult roles. Great work by Philip Baker Hall, who meets Gosling at a decidedly odd part of his life. Let me put it this way, my "Michael Caine from DRESSED TO KILL" nightmares will now be replaced by the images from this film. Lily Rabe (daughter of the late Jill Clayburgh and playwright David Rabe) is also memorable as Gosling's lifelong friend, and someone who knows where all the bodies are buried (figuratively and literally). Sure the movie has its flaws - a wall-to-wall Bernard Hermann-esque score and a too ambiguous denouement leaving way too many questions unanswered. It made me want to look up the real story of Robert Durst. What I discovered is that the film hewed pretty close to the facts, which made this odd little film even more compelling to me.

• Jeff T

  
  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… More
  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.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings