Wes's Grade: C
I hate the feeling of that struggle to stay awake during a movie, but ironically that was the case in the modestly entertaining but stagnant new thriller "Before I Go to Sleep," which seems to have been dumped, I mean released, on Halloween Day in hopes of finding an audience in search of a decent, scary thriller. Too bad they won't find it here. Christine (Nicole Kidman) is an amnesiac who wakes up every day with no memory as the result of a traumatic accident in her past. One day, terrifying new truths begin to emerge that make her question everything she thinks she knows about her life - as well as everyone in it, including her doctor (Mark Strong) and even her husband (Colin Firth). Directed and written by Rowan Joffe ("Brighton Rock") and based on a seemingly far more intriguing, 2011 best-selling novel of the same by S.J. Watson, "Before I Go to Sleep" is sluggishly assembled in spite of a talented cast who performs well and an intriguing plot; it doesn't help that the first couple of acts are as slow as molasses, and you may find yourself drifting off (or perhaps counting sheep) much too early on in the film. By the time it finally picks up some energy late in the last act, you may not care much given the big plot twist is revealed well before the film ends. Kidman is quite believable, though Firth struggles in an underwritten role that lacks a clear sense of any motivation behind his actions. It also wastes two terrific character actors in Strong, as her sympathetic doctor, and the likable Anne-Marie Duff from the TV show "Shameless" as her confused friend. The climax is well-staged but a tad predictable; if you go with your gut feeling, you'll figure it out in the first few frames, otherwise "Before I Go to Sleep" is a bit of a snooze fest.
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