Before its spectacularly messy finale, the head-scratching mystery thriller “Gone in the Night” barely holds itself together thanks to the star power of co-stars Winona Ryder and Dermot Mulroney. The rest of the drama doesn’t fare as well given how much of its plot, about a missing person who may or may not have been abducted, seems to have been designed to keep viewers at arm’s length and in the dark for as long as possible.
Some of the film’s more disorienting qualities—particularly its sudden and haphazard use of flashbacks to first tease and then fill in the gaps of viewers’ knowledge—make more sense once you realize that “Gone in the Night” was directed by Eli Horowitz. Horowitz, who co-wrote “Gone in the Night” with Matthew Derby, also co-created the psychological thriller “Homecoming” podcast, which he adapted into a compelling TV series with Micah Bloomberg and “Mr. Robot” show-runner Sam Esmail. (Derby also has writer credits on the “Sandra” podcast from 2018) For better and worse, “Gone in the Night” feels like the directorial debut of a podcaster, somebody who knows the value of storytelling novelty and has a gift for narrative economy, but also suggests more by the grace of good casting than their own singular talents.
Max’s disappearance poses a relatively simple question that each successive scene complicates with new information, as when we start seeing flashbacks to a house party that took place just before Kath and Max’s ill-fated cabin visit. Eventually, Kath and Barlow’s relationship becomes the movie’s main focus, and that narrative shift at least clarifies what kind of story Derby and Horowitz have chosen to tell.
Unfortunately, Barlow and Kath’s relationship is almost as sporadic as Max and Greta’s twitchy fling. In the movie’s press notes, Horowitz acknowledges that he was very lucky that Ryder and Mulroney agreed to star in “Gone in the Night,” since these two key roles were apparently written with them in mind. But Kath and Barlow are only so interesting beyond that casting coup.
You can sort of see what’s missing from “Gone in the Dark” when Kath and Barlow go on a stakeout to find and confront Greta. They don sunglasses and pass the time by talking about what really motivates them: they’re both running on fumes and have turned this manhunt into a futile search for their lost sense of youth. That sort of existential mid-life crisis may sound intriguing, but the movie’s plot still hinges on an underwhelming mystery about Max, an obnoxious supporting character.
Kath and Barlow’s stakeout consequently feels like a tidy break during an otherwise brisk, but empty procedural. The same thing could be said about the movie’s flashbacks to Kath and Max’s pre-cabin life. They’re well-mounted and efficient, but they don’t really convey much beyond whatever the characters tell us.
The rest of “Gone in the Night” is staid and unusual enough that it might pique some viewers’ interest. And yet even the most invested fans would probably be better off sitting in their own cars and wondering what they’re living for anyway, man.
