That Good Night

....this is a lovely and old-fashioned character study with some sly humor and, of course, more than a couple of reach-for-the-tissues moments.

The beauty of Hurt's complex performance is the helplessness in his eyes as his mouth spews its poisonous cruelty - he's a hostage to what used to be wit but now just feels like petty spite.

The human interaction, alas, remains hidebound: it's another of those scripts about a writer where the protagonist has been developed at everybody else's expense.

That Good Night plays everything far too safe ... for it to be considered anything more than forgettable fluff