Christine (Nicole Kidman) wakes up next to a stranger. Claiming to be her husband, Ben (Colin Firth), Christine has no memory of him. Disturbed by her lack of memories, she receives treatment from Dr. Nasch (Mark Strong). Hoping to regain her full faculties, as each piece of her life returns, new questions arise. Becoming suspicious of those around her, Christine learns all is not as it appears as lies and deceptions entangle her life.
Clumsily directed by Rowan Joffe, ‘Before I Go to Sleep’ gives new meaning to mediocrity. Badly mis-cast and full of illogical plot holes, it falls under its self-inflicted burdens. You don’t believe in the characters due to an increasingly silly story and contrived atmospherics. Despite her predicament, Kidman’s character comes across as being really dumb with obvious clues ignored. This deflates any sympathy with the cast’s over-acting turning ‘Before I Go to Sleep’ into a bad cinematic pantomime.
‘Before I Go to Sleep’ has few good points with the cinematography being one. Effectively capturing the muddied world Christine tries to escape, it adds to the overall sense of danger. The orchestral score makes the outlandish climax appear better than it is. The flaws are many in this poor adaptation doing no favours to what has been a popular book.
A pot-boiler quickly going nowhere, ‘Before I Go to Sleep’ is less than scintillating. Offering evidence that a big-name cast can’t save a movie without a good script, the temptation to erase this one from the memory banks would be palatable.
Movie Review Rating out of 10: 3
Movie Review by Patrick Moore
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Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at movie releases in Australia.
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