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Parents' Guide to

All Good Things

By Jeffrey M. Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Depressing "true" story of violence and destroyed lives.

Movie R 2010 101 minutes
All Good Things Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 17+

Based on 2 parent reviews

wonder dove
wonder dove Adult
October 22, 2013
age 16+

Bland & Blah...

I wanted to see this movie so bad when it first came out. Mainly due to it's cast and true story. I ended up seeing it 2 years later when I bought it on DVD (same price as renting anyway). I didn't like it at all and was disappointed. The pace was quite slow and the story was not near as good and engaging as I'd hoped. However, Kirsten Dunst was terrific and Ryan Gosling was great playing a couple. Excellent acting but poor story. No excitement what so ever, even when the two are in love. Just a dark story about an unsolved murder. David Marks (Ryan Gosling) was unlikable from the start. I'd never watch this again. It gets 1 star for the acting. Language has several f-words in different forms, @sshole, some religious remarks. Violence includes references to several murders, gunshots, a man abuses his wife in a couple scenes - he drags her by her hair in anger while guests watch, same woman gets a black eye, two men fight violently, an elderly man on oxygen drops dead, characters throw fits and end up smashing objects, talk of an abortion, a husband tells his wife he doesn't want kids even though she's pregnant, lots of references to death including suicide. Sexual content has some passionate kissing of a married couple, sex scene shows removal of clothing and is brief with panting sounds, a woman joins her husband in the shower where you see her side-boob and they kiss for a second, neck kissing, movie theater shows a sex scene in a movie with light moaning, man swims in a lake with his underwear on, night club scene shows a topless woman, a woman gets pregnant. There's some drinking, pot use and cocaine snorting. Content is dark and certainly not for kids. 17+
khan2705
khan2705 Adult
December 6, 2010
age 17+

extremely cliche, poor direction and screenplay, good performances

Inspired by the most notorious missing person's case in New York history, ALL GOOD THINGS is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s. well i saw this movie which is based on a true story of unsolved murder case. its a drama thriller with romance of course. i was not expecting much from this movie when i saw it receiving not so good reviews. the only reason of watching this movie was seeing these two actors, the hot and handsome Ryan Gosling and the beautiful and gorgeous Kristen Dunst after a long time. well this movie turns out to be extremely CLICHE. Its so Cliche, i mean i felt i have seen movies like it before, story was very Cliche. that thing does not effects me much for a movie because that is not the problem with me, i don't think that on certain plot if a movie is being made then there shouldn't be another one like it. i always find some difference and some new things in it and even if i mention it being Cliche, it doesn't effects the rating. but this movie was pretty average. its all that a girl (poor one) meets a very attractive handsome rich man, falls in love then marry either way. things start to get little weird and strange day bu day, girl star finding secrets about the family, that handsome looking guy actually turns out to be a psycho man and he always loose control and beat and torture his wife, she separates, then he kills her. it was pretty much like it. but the few things that makes it somewhat different is that its based on a true story, the girl is actually missing not considered dead, which means the end. end of the movie is what makes it pretty different from other movies like it. movies starts somewhat slow, takes sometime to develop and then everything just come rushing, everything start happening so fast which is a negative point and it seriously annoys me. towards the end it has some pretty shocking, mysterious and thrilling moments that are pretty good to watch. its actually a narrative movie, Ryan at his present old age is shown saying the story to the Court. acting wise pretty good i will say, its the only positive point, Ryan Gosling did a fantastic job again, he is very good in his character. towards the end his strange Woman get up and that psycho killer thing was done very well by him. on the other hand Kristen Dust was awsome too. she played her character pretty good. screenplay of this movie is very dull and much in places pretty hollow, story is not narrated in a right way. movie is very empty and lost in places. i even didn't felt much connected to the characters as well. direction is pretty weak as well. so i will say to AVOID IT.
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

David Marks (Ryan Gosling) is the son of a wealthy property owner (Frank Langella). He marries Katie (Kirsten Dunst), who is outside the family's social circle, and dreams of running a health food store. But eventually he succumbs to his father and goes to work for the family business, which begins a harrowing decline into anxiety and violence. Katie gets pregnant, but David refuses to become a father. They begin fighting and, eventually, living separate lives. Before long, David becomes involved in a disappearance and two mysterious deaths. Will he be made to face the consequences of his life, or will he simply disappear?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (2 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

This is director Andrew Jarecki's fictional debut, and unfortunately, it isn't particularly engaging. Jarecki, who gave audiences the brutally powerful dysfunctional family documentary Capturing the Friedmans, now turns his skills to a "based on a true story" feature film -- and interestingly, he takes a documentary-like approach to the material, narrating the tale with Marks' court transcript and filling in the blanks with deduction and imagination.

The material is relentlessly harrowing, and it's difficult to know just where the characters stand: David is shown to be slightly unhinged, and there's no one to root for. Additionally, Jarecki employs some fairly standard-issue thriller elements, such as jump-shocks and things hiding in the shadows, which seem unworthy of this story. It's difficult, ultimately, to discern the point of the movie, other than to comment on how depressing and futile it all is.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the violence in the film. What has more impact: the things that are shown, or the ones that aren't? Which is more disturbing, the murders or the violence toward Katie?

  • The main characters tend to drown their troubles in drinking, smoking, and drugs. These activities never seem to get out of control, but does that make it all right? What would the consequences of this kind of behavior be in real life?

  • Could David have avoided all of his trouble if he had ignored his father and kept on living the life he dreamed of living?

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