Posted in: Amazon, Movies, Review | Tagged: amazon studios, Goodnight Mommy, naomi watts

Goodnight Mommy Is Supremely Disappointing {Review}

Published Fri, 16 Sep 2022 21:18:11 -0500

Goodnight Mommy is the worst kind of thriller, one that cares more about preserving a twist than it does about telling a captivating story. Wasting a great set of performances from child actors Nicholas and Cameron Crovetti, the film is deary, lifeless, and way less smart than it thinks it is. Even Naomi Watts cannot save this one from itself. Entirely skippable.

Goodnight Mommy Is Supremely Disappointing {Review} — Credit Amazon Studios

Goodnight Mommy Has Bad Priorities

The film opens with twins Elias and Lucas arriving at their mother's house to stay, dropped off by their father. Why they live apart is a mystery. After they arrive, they see their mother, never named but from photos on the walls, is a famous actress. Only her entire head and face are covered in bandages. After witnessing increasingly bizarre behavior from the woman, they become convinced she is not their mother but an impostor that they have to get away from at all costs.

The problem with Goodnight Mommy is not the premise but the lengths that director Matt Sobel and screenwriter Kyle Warren go to preserve the twist at the film's end. Usually, that is appreciated, but for this film, it really depends on what type of viewer you are. It took about ten seconds to figure out the twist in this one, and that made for an annoying viewing experience. It is a bit out of left field if you are not paying attention to the clues, but they hit you over the head with them so much it would be hard to miss them.

But that is not the only problem here. The film is awash in dark tones and a dreariness that makes the whole film drag. There are all kinds of pacing issues, where lingering a bit more might have brought out more emotions from the characters and given us something to cling onto. Watts does her best with the material and a role that requires her to stay wrapped up for half the runtime, but she seems more disinterested in the material than we are watching. Some of that plays into the ending, but even so, not her best work here. The bulk of the work falls on Nicholas and Cameron Crovetti, playing the twins. They do a great job, though, the lone bright spot. A scene with them bonding in a field feels really fun, and one wishes they had kept that energy through the entire runtime.

It is hard to talk about this film without spoiling the ending, and though it has emotional weight and is sad, it doesn't feel earned at all. Instead, you feel angry that the filmmakers seemed to care more about their puzzle box than making us care about the story they were trying to tell proceeding it. Goodnight Mommy does answer the central question of if this is their mother or not, but the answer is going to leave you feeling cold, angry, and wishing they hadn't.

Goodnight Mommy