Featured Audience Ratings

• Phil H

  
  Odd combination of Jeff Goldblum, a depressed insomniac whose life is dull, uneventful and his wife is cheating on him, the other person being Michelle Pfeiffer who is a jewel smuggler and has some Iranians after her for some precious stones. The mismatched pair bump into each other,… More
  Odd combination of Jeff Goldblum, a depressed insomniac whose life is dull, uneventful and his wife is cheating on him, the other person being Michelle Pfeiffer who is a jewel smuggler and has some Iranians after her for some precious stones. The mismatched pair bump into each other, make friends and have to run from the nasty Iranians which leads to all manner of scrapes and tight situations none of which are particularly exciting or original. The film is really quite dull much like Goldblum's performance and doesn't offer anything other than an impressive list of cameos, why? beats me. Pfeiffer and Goldblum don't blend a tall, the action is weak, its naturally very very dated and director Landis is one of the Iranian agents in (I think) his only full movie role.

• Adam M

  
  A scary Irene Pappas, a shocking hostage situation, and David Bowie's small role are the only things I enjoyed, even with all the people (Carl Perkins, Rick Baker, etc.) who did their cameos well. The dialogue isn't great and the dead air Landis allows to form around… More
  A scary Irene Pappas, a shocking hostage situation, and David Bowie's small role are the only things I enjoyed, even with all the people (Carl Perkins, Rick Baker, etc.) who did their cameos well. The dialogue isn't great and the dead air Landis allows to form around Goldbloom's lines keeps the movie from starting to live.

• AJ V

  
  A great zany thriller movie with an interesting story and good actors. I really liked this movie.

• Daniel M

  
  Many of the big 1980s comedies we remember are largely admired for one thing: their complete light-heartedness and escapist feel, something totally removed from the darker, more complex, and in some cases less funny comedies of today. The problem, however, is that once all the… More
  Many of the big 1980s comedies we remember are largely admired for one thing: their complete light-heartedness and escapist feel, something totally removed from the darker, more complex, and in some cases less funny comedies of today. The problem, however, is that once all the nostalgic charm has worn off, films like Ghostbusters and Bachelor Party turn out to be ropey, flimsy and ultimately not that funny. Into The Night, on the other hand, is a underrated comedy film which remains largely funny twenty-five years on. For its first two thirds it manages to deliver both light-hearted thrills and a decent amount of substance, satisfying those of us who like to laugh and think at the same time. It's also a turning point in John Landis' career, marking the end of his huge success in the early-1980s and hinting in its latter half towards his more rambling, self-indulgent work later on. It far from Landis' best work, but it is an entertaining and ultimately satisfying experience. For the best part of an hour, Into The Night is a very well-crafted, light-hearted comedy about suburban life and the unexpected. It is a film which depicts how domesticity and the individual routines of working life have sucked all the fun out of existence. Ed Okin, played by Jeff Goldblum, works in a brown office, drives a beige car, and lives in a boring house with a boring wife in a neighbourhood in which nothing seems to happen. Even the sheets on his bed are a drab, ordinary white; there is nothing in this house or the dialogue which occurs there that would make you envy his lifestyle. Having this low-key, slow setup means that there is some kind of rationale behind the extraordinary events which unfold. Okin is someone who is literally restless: he cannot sleep because his life has become so dull and so orderly, that he can longer no find sense, or purpose, or enjoyment in what he does. His decision to drive to the airport is the first instance of him attempting to break free from this monotony, even if it amounts to little more than sticking one's toe in the water. Hence when the series of events happen, they are much less contrived than one might expect. True, it's not like we've all had Michelle Pfeiffer fall on our cars whenever we randomly go for a drive. But there is nothing in the precise way in which the events play out which make the characters' circumstances seem unbelievable or ridiculous. The point that the film is making so well is that life needs to be unpredictable; in the case of the central character, it may be just what is needed to solve his problems. But, as they say, be careful what you wish for. Much like Griffin Dunne's character in After Hours, Ed Okin has to live with the unpredictable consequences of such a miniscule decision. His ongoing decisions to help Diane are not motivated by a need for excitement: on the contrary, they are an increasingly desperate effort to return to the safety of his home. He keeps repeating the phrase, "this is too weird for me", because he simply isn't aware of what 'weird' is. As the film moves on, however, he and Diane develop a romantic attachment and his use of this phrase becomes less frequent. Though Okin may never fully embrace the world of intrigue to which Diane has introduced him, he has become more aware of how such a world works, how complex everything in comparison to his limited and frustrated worldview. He realises there is a whole other world out there which he never knew and which by the merest accident he has gain the ability to explore. His experience is an awakening -- or perhaps that should be asleep-ening, since the film concludes with Okin getting his first proper night of sleep in years. As a comedy, Into The Night succeeds by being funny over its duration, with the humour coming as much from the subtlety of the central relationship as from the big set-pieces. There are several genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, most of them involving the incompetent Iranian henchmen. In one scene, their car crashes into a van in the airport car park while they are chasing Diane; they get out to face down the drivers, only to be greeted by four burly, muscular men, who look like the A-Team with even worse haircuts. Alongside these big set-pieces are more traditional Landis in-jokes and motifs. His love of old movies is shown during the scene in the deserted hotel room. A clip from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is playing on the TV screen, and at one point a character holds a knife aloft across the screen just as Abbott's chest is exposed. Likewise there is a reference to Get Carter in the beach scene, and the inadvertent carnage Ed creates on the film set is a possible nod to Animal House. As far as casting goes, Pfeiffer is a straightforward choice, bringing to the role her irresistible combination of beauty, intelligence and vulnerability. David Bowie's cameo as a very English henchman is also a matter of common sense. But Goldblum, a year before his tour-de-force in The Fly, is far more unusual. He has a distant, alien-like expression, which makes it seem odd for Landis to cast him as an ordinary guy. But the decision pays off, with Goldblum's looks allowing him to play everything completely deadpan, adding to the intelligence of the comedy. The problems with Into The Night can be sub-divided into two groups. One group are general aspects of the film which haven't dated well or which seem questionable even for the time. Having just about put up with Dan Aykroyd blacking up in Trading Places, the issue of Landis himself appearing as a (highly stupid) Iranian does raise questions with regard to possible racism. This aspect could be mitigated as being part of a period attitude: this was in the day when The A-Team filmed Mr. T's stunts by covering a white stunt double in make-up and filming him from far away. But even with this caveat in place, the prospect remains a little unsettling. What is more disagreeable, however, is Landis' continuing use of gratuitous nudity. When he was making Animal House, it was easy to forgive the odd glimpse of flesh for the sake of base titillation, on the grounds that young filmmakers rarely know what they're doing. Even the brief nudity in Trading Places was excusable, since it didn't detract massively from the plot. But when you're at the stage when you can afford cameos by Bowie and Jim Henson, there isn't much excuse for such adolescence, at least not to such an extent. The second group of problems relate to the second half of the film, which is much more contrived and drawn-out. The fact that the events stretch over two nights rather than one (as in After Hours) undermines some of the tension; the audience start to question the workings of the plot (e.g. why hasn't Ed's wife tried to find him?). Jeff Goldblum's conversation with Irene Papas feels like a badly drawn-out piece of improv that should have stayed on the cutting room floor. The ending itself is very drawn out and may cause you to lose patience as both coherency and sympathy begin to tumble. Into The Night is a decent effort from John Landis which makes for an enjoyable evening's viewing. Like Event Horizon many years later, it begins very substantially and keeps its eye on the ball for the first hour, before slowly descending into chaos and losing sight of its storyline. But even at its weakest points it is just about funny enough to sustain one's interest. It's too long, too contrived and is knocked into a cocked hat by After Hours. But as an overall experience, it's enjoyable, in a silly kind of way.

• Stephen M

  
  This film dates from that early period of Michelle Pfeiffer's career when she seemed incapable of starring in a decent movie, no matter how solid her director's previous track record. Having failed to produce a successful sequel to the perennially popular "Grease",… More
  This film dates from that early period of Michelle Pfeiffer's career when she seemed incapable of starring in a decent movie, no matter how solid her director's previous track record. Having failed to produce a successful sequel to the perennially popular "Grease", she proceeded to make mediocre films with Brian De Palma ("Scarface"), John Landis ("Into the Night") and Richard Donner ("Ladyhawke"). A comedy thriller that isn't funny or exciting, "Into the Night" is a plotless shambles, solely of interest to Landis or Pfeiffer completists. Following the (mostly) nocturnal exploits of an unwitting, white-collar adventurer, the film ought to be some sort of L.A. equivalent to Scorsese's "After Hours" -- released later the same year -- but it's nowhere near as quirky as it seems to think it is, and tedium rapidly sets in. Ironically, Jeff Goldblum charmlessly sleepwalks through the role of a cuckolded insomniac, but Pfeiffer is on fine form, as ever. The movie is littered with pointless cameo appearances, mostly by film directors, although David Bowie makes an excellent contribution as a creepy hitman.

• Dean M

  
  Great zany film and there are hottest directors appeared cameos including John Landis, Jim Henson, David Cronenberg, Jonathan Lynn, Daniel Petrie, Paul Bartel, Don Siegel, Lawrence Kasden, Jonathan Demme and Amy Heckerling.

• Deb S

  
  A light hearted thriller with a very young Jeff Goldblum, an insomniac who's headed nowhere with his job as an aerospace engineer. He comes home early from work to find his wife in bed with another man. Confused, he drives "into the night," to find himself and instead… More
  A light hearted thriller with a very young Jeff Goldblum, an insomniac who's headed nowhere with his job as an aerospace engineer. He comes home early from work to find his wife in bed with another man. Confused, he drives "into the night," to find himself and instead finds bizarre adventure and intrigue with a hot babe-in-distress Michelle Pfeifer, a jewel smuggler who's on the run from some international thugs (played by an assortment of celebrities such as director Roger Vadim, rock star David Bowie and comedian Dan Aykroyd). Okay, so this is nothing great but it was cute to see that so many directors making brief appearances in the film as well ((one of them is actually "The Fly" remake director David Cronenberg and this film's director John Landis).

• Marcus W

  
  The wilder the script and the concept, the more fun John Landis has with it. Sadly, this is a routine tale that is so average and mild and so-so that Landis' attempts to inject humour only manage to kill off any scrap of tension that was there. Shruggable.

• Marion R

  
  I didn't get the "humor" of this film. It felt like a mess, the overall idea for the film isn't bad, it's just boring to watch.

• Sarah P

  
  Pretty dumb...not worth watching again.

• Anthony V

  
  Even though it has too many cameos to count (my favorite is Bowie as a hitman), it still manages to be a fun ride.

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