All Good Things (the movie)

[Spot's Meow]

This film came out in a limited release in 2010 and is loosely based on an actual missing persons case. It stars Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst. I happened across the movie while looking for things to watch instantly on Netflix. If you have Netflix yourself, I recommend you add this title to your instant queue.

The real life story is that of Robert Durst and Kathleen McCormack. They were married and had a happy future ahead of them in Vermont, but Robert is convinced to move back to New York to work in his father's real estate business, which has made the family very wealthy. After the move things start to go downhill for them and a few years later Kathleen tells people her husband is abusive and she is contemplating divorce. Soon after she goes missing. Robert claims she took a train back to the city one night and he never saw her again, and there are reports of people seeing her in the city the next day. The whole situation seems pretty suspicious though. Robert has some apparently undiagnosed psychological issues and is later estranged from his family.

About twenty years later one of Robert's close friends is killed execution style and soon after his friend and neighbor is found dismembered. He admits to killing and dismembering the neighbor but claims it was self defense, so he only gets four years in prison.

The movie includes all of this factual information but draws some connections between all of these murders by filling in the details with anecdotes from Kathleen's friends and family. The result is a very creepy movie that doesn't exactly show what is believed to have happened but heavily implies some scary things.

After watching it I found this article, in which Robert Durst says that he likes the film and it is a fairly accurate portrayal. Just from the few quotes from him in the article he seems like a real creepy dude.

Has anyone else seen this? I'm really interested in hearing other opinions on the film, which won't be easy since it had such a limited release. If none of you have seen it, then go watch it and get back to me.

It is disturbing to think that the character Ryan Gosling played could actually be a reflection of a real human being.

[Admiral James Kirk]

I watched it on Netflix a few weeks ago. Not much I can say. I enjoyed it.

It had a nice, icy atmosphere for what was ostensibly a love story but what is in the end a love story gone wrong. It had a wonderful, haunting musical score. The acting was largely kind of weak. The one exception being Kirsten Dunst who was an absolute standout. Never thought I would say that about Dunst, but she surprised me. The movie rode on her coattails and when she disappeared from the movie so did it's heart.

At the end of the day I would recommend the movie for the musical score and Kirsten Dunst's wonderful performance. Otherwise it's entirely a take it or leave it affair.

[Spot's Meow]

Admiral James Kirk wrote:

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The one exception being Kirsten Dunst who was an absolute standout. Never thought I would say that about Dunst, but she surprised me. The movie rode on her coattails and when she disappeared from the movie so did it's heart.

I actually said the same exact thing in my Netflix review. I loved the first half of the movie, but once Dunst was gone it just wasn't quite as captivating, though I still think it was worth watching.

[Admiral James Kirk]

Well once Dunst was gone it was weird people doing weird things to each other. There was no humanity to the rest of the flick. Not until the very end. It was just a weird freak show.