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Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Pfeiffer, Richard Farnsworth, Irene Papas, Kathryn Harrold ... see more see more... , Paul Mazursky , Roger Vadim , Dan Aykroyd , David Bowie , Stacey Pickren , Jake Steinfeld , Bruce McGill , Vera Miles , Carl Perkins , Clu Gulager , Jack Arnold , Paul Bartel , David Cronenberg , Jonathan Demme , Richard Franklin , Carl Gottlieb , Amy Heckerling , Jim Henson , Colin Higgins , Lawrence Kasdan , Jonathan Kaufer , John Landis , Andrew Marton , Daniel Petrie , Bud Abbott , Domingo Ambriz , Carmen Argenziano , Jim Bentley , Lon Chaney Jr , Hope Clarke , Lou Costello , Sue Dugan , Art Evans , Patricia Gaul , John Hostetter , Tracy Hutchinson , Saul Kahan , William B. Kaplan , Eric Lee , Bela Lugosi , Ali Madani , Robert Moberly , Dedee Pfeiffer , Beulah Quo , Peggy Sanders , Reid Smith , Elizabeth Solorzano , Don Steel , Viola Kates Stimpson , Houshang Touzie , Gene Whittington , Cal Worthington , Rick Baker , Wes Dawn , Eddy Donno , Hassan Ildari , Jonathan Lynn , Robert Paynter , Don Siegel , Bill Taylor , Michael Zand , Dick Balduzzi , Rory Barish , Alma Beltran , Sue Bowser , Pete Ellis , Jon Stephen Fink , Beruce Gramian , Robert La Bassiere , Rusdi Lane , Mark Levine , Jean Pelton , Zorah Ramsey , Hadi Sadjadi , Erica Sakai , Yacob Salih , Waldo Salt , Slavka Budinova , David Sosna , Robert Traynor , Christopher George , Jack Roberts

Filled with enough cameos to keep film buffs entertained, this otherwise routine action-comedy by John Landis boasts Michelle Pfeiffer as one of its major attractions. She plays Diana, a woman prone t... read more read more...o having affairs with some very dangerous men, and Jeff Goldblum is Ed Okin, an aerospace engineer whose lot is thrown in with Diana's when the woman is caught in a bind at the airport. The beautiful Diana is an airhead on the scale of the Hindenberg, her only concerns are clothes and men -- which she either most attractively wears or wears out, depending. While Ed is at the airport one day trying to sort out his life, Diana arrives with six smuggled emeralds in tow and is immediately welcomed by several hired assassins. Fear and expediency propel her into Ed's car, and the two are off on a series of narrow escapes that has them pursued by everyone from Iranians to baddies played by well-known international directors (Roger Vadim) or singers (David Bowie) or comedians (Dan Aykroyd). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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47% liked it

3,139 ratings

Critics

38% liked it

21 critics

R, 1 hr. 55 min.

Directed by: John Landis

Release Date: February 22, 1985

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DVD Release Date: September 2, 2003

Stats: 146 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (146)

  • phubbs1
    August 23, 2011
    phubbs1
    Odd combination of Jeff Goldblum, a depressed insomniac whose life is dull, uneventful and his wife is cheating on him, the other person being Michelle Pfeiffer who is a jewel smuggler and has some Iranians after her for some precious stones. The mismatched pair bump into each ot... read moreher, make friends and have to run from the nasty Iranians which leads to all manner of scrapes and tight situations none of which are particularly exciting or original.

    The film is really quite dull much like Goldblum's performance and doesn't offer anything other than an impressive list of cameos, why? beats me. Pfeiffer and Goldblum don't blend a tall, the action is weak, its naturally very very dated and director Landis is one of the Iranian agents in (I think) his only full movie role.
  • adammahler1
    February 15, 2011
    adammahler1
    A scary Irene Pappas, a shocking hostage situation, and David Bowie's small role are the only things I enjoyed, even with all the people (Carl Perkins, Rick Baker, etc.) who did their cameos well. The dialogue isn't great and the dead air Landis allows to form around Goldbloom's ... read morelines keeps the movie from starting to live.
  • ajv2688
    January 19, 2011
    ajv2688
    A great zany thriller movie with an interesting story and good actors. I really liked this movie.
  • mumby1988
    July 3, 2010
    mumby1988
    Many of the big 1980s comedies we remember are largely admired for one thing: their complete light-heartedness and escapist feel, something totally removed from the darker, more complex, and in some cases less funny comedies of today. The problem, however, is that once all the no... read morestalgic charm has worn off, films like Ghostbusters and Bachelor Party turn out to be ropey, flimsy and ultimately not that funny.

    Into The Night, on the other hand, is a underrated comedy film which remains largely funny twenty-five years on. For its first two thirds it manages to deliver both light-hearted thrills and a decent amount of substance, satisfying those of us who like to laugh and think at the same time. It's also a turning point in John Landis' career, marking the end of his huge success in the early-1980s and hinting in its latter half towards his more rambling, self-indulgent work later on. It far from Landis' best work, but it is an entertaining and ultimately satisfying experience.

    For the best part of an hour, Into The Night is a very well-crafted, light-hearted comedy about suburban life and the unexpected. It is a film which depicts how domesticity and the individual routines of working life have sucked all the fun out of existence. Ed Okin, played by Jeff Goldblum, works in a brown office, drives a beige car, and lives in a boring house with a boring wife in a neighbourhood in which nothing seems to happen. Even the sheets on his bed are a drab, ordinary white; there is nothing in this house or the dialogue which occurs there that would make you envy his lifestyle.

    Having this low-key, slow setup means that there is some kind of rationale behind the extraordinary events which unfold. Okin is someone who is literally restless: he cannot sleep because his life has become so dull and so orderly, that he can longer no find sense, or purpose, or enjoyment in what he does. His decision to drive to the airport is the first instance of him attempting to break free from this monotony, even if it amounts to little more than sticking one's toe in the water.

    Hence when the series of events happen, they are much less contrived than one might expect. True, it's not like we've all had Michelle Pfeiffer fall on our cars whenever we randomly go for a drive. But there is nothing in the precise way in which the events play out which make the characters' circumstances seem unbelievable or ridiculous. The point that the film is making so well is that life needs to be unpredictable; in the case of the central character, it may be just what is needed to solve his problems.

    But, as they say, be careful what you wish for. Much like Griffin Dunne's character in After Hours, Ed Okin has to live with the unpredictable consequences of such a miniscule decision. His ongoing decisions to help Diane are not motivated by a need for excitement: on the contrary, they are an increasingly desperate effort to return to the safety of his home. He keeps repeating the phrase, "this is too weird for me", because he simply isn't aware of what 'weird' is.

    As the film moves on, however, he and Diane develop a romantic attachment and his use of this phrase becomes less frequent. Though Okin may never fully embrace the world of intrigue to which Diane has introduced him, he has become more aware of how such a world works, how complex everything in comparison to his limited and frustrated worldview. He realises there is a whole other world out there which he never knew and which by the merest accident he has gain the ability to explore. His experience is an awakening -- or perhaps that should be asleep-ening, since the film concludes with Okin getting his first proper night of sleep in years.

    As a comedy, Into The Night succeeds by being funny over its duration, with the humour coming as much from the subtlety of the central relationship as from the big set-pieces. There are several genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, most of them involving the incompetent Iranian henchmen. In one scene, their car crashes into a van in the airport car park while they are chasing Diane; they get out to face down the drivers, only to be greeted by four burly, muscular men, who look like the A-Team with even worse haircuts.

    Alongside these big set-pieces are more traditional Landis in-jokes and motifs. His love of old movies is shown during the scene in the deserted hotel room. A clip from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is playing on the TV screen, and at one point a character holds a knife aloft across the screen just as Abbott's chest is exposed. Likewise there is a reference to Get Carter in the beach scene, and the inadvertent carnage Ed creates on the film set is a possible nod to Animal House.

    As far as casting goes, Pfeiffer is a straightforward choice, bringing to the role her irresistible combination of beauty, intelligence and vulnerability. David Bowie's cameo as a very English henchman is also a matter of common sense. But Goldblum, a year before his tour-de-force in The Fly, is far more unusual. He has a distant, alien-like expression, which makes it seem odd for Landis to cast him as an ordinary guy. But the decision pays off, with Goldblum's looks allowing him to play everything completely deadpan, adding to the intelligence of the comedy.

    The problems with Into The Night can be sub-divided into two groups. One group are general aspects of the film which haven't dated well or which seem questionable even for the time. Having just about put up with Dan Aykroyd blacking up in Trading Places, the issue of Landis himself appearing as a (highly stupid) Iranian does raise questions with regard to possible racism. This aspect could be mitigated as being part of a period attitude: this was in the day when The A-Team filmed Mr. T's stunts by covering a white stunt double in make-up and filming him from far away. But even with this caveat in place, the prospect remains a little unsettling.

    What is more disagreeable, however, is Landis' continuing use of gratuitous nudity. When he was making Animal House, it was easy to forgive the odd glimpse of flesh for the sake of base titillation, on the grounds that young filmmakers rarely know what they're doing. Even the brief nudity in Trading Places was excusable, since it didn't detract massively from the plot. But when you're at the stage when you can afford cameos by Bowie and Jim Henson, there isn't much excuse for such adolescence, at least not to such an extent.

    The second group of problems relate to the second half of the film, which is much more contrived and drawn-out. The fact that the events stretch over two nights rather than one (as in After Hours) undermines some of the tension; the audience start to question the workings of the plot (e.g. why hasn't Ed's wife tried to find him?). Jeff Goldblum's conversation with Irene Papas feels like a badly drawn-out piece of improv that should have stayed on the cutting room floor. The ending itself is very drawn out and may cause you to lose patience as both coherency and sympathy begin to tumble.

    Into The Night is a decent effort from John Landis which makes for an enjoyable evening's viewing. Like Event Horizon many years later, it begins very substantially and keeps its eye on the ball for the first hour, before slowly descending into chaos and losing sight of its storyline. But even at its weakest points it is just about funny enough to sustain one's interest. It's too long, too contrived and is knocked into a cocked hat by After Hours. But as an overall experience, it's enjoyable, in a silly kind of way.
  • harrycaul
    March 15, 2008
    harrycaul
    This film dates from that early period of Michelle Pfeiffer's career when she seemed incapable of starring in a decent movie, no matter how solid her director's previous track record. Having failed to produce a successful sequel to the perennially popular "Grease", she proceeded ... read moreto make mediocre films with Brian De Palma ("Scarface"), John Landis ("Into the Night") and Richard Donner ("Ladyhawke"). A comedy thriller that isn't funny or exciting, "Into the Night" is a plotless shambles, solely of interest to Landis or Pfeiffer completists. Following the (mostly) nocturnal exploits of an unwitting, white-collar adventurer, the film ought to be some sort of L.A. equivalent to Scorsese's "After Hours" -- released later the same year -- but it's nowhere near as quirky as it seems to think it is, and tedium rapidly sets in. Ironically, Jeff Goldblum charmlessly sleepwalks through the role of a cuckolded insomniac, but Pfeiffer is on fine form, as ever. The movie is littered with pointless cameo appearances, mostly by film directors, although David Bowie makes an excellent contribution as a creepy hitman.
  • deano
    October 8, 2006
    deano
    Great zany film and there are hottest directors appeared cameos including John Landis, Jim Henson, David Cronenberg, Jonathan Lynn, Daniel Petrie, Paul Bartel, Don Siegel, Lawrence Kasden, Jonathan Demme and Amy Heckerling.
  • xxdebxx
    April 9, 2011
    xxdebxx
    A light hearted thriller with a very young Jeff Goldblum, an insomniac who's headed nowhere with his job as an aerospace engineer. He comes home early from work to find his wife in bed with another man. Confused, he drives "into the night," to find himself and instead finds bizar... read morere adventure and intrigue with a hot babe-in-distress Michelle Pfeifer, a jewel smuggler who's on the run from some international thugs (played by an assortment of celebrities such as director Roger Vadim, rock star David Bowie and comedian Dan Aykroyd).

    Okay, so this is nothing great but it was cute to see that so many directors making brief appearances in the film as well ((one of them is actually "The Fly" remake director David Cronenberg and this film's director John Landis).
  • Lemure
    January 19, 2012
    Lemure
    The wilder the script and the concept, the more fun John Landis has with it. Sadly, this is a routine tale that is so average and mild and so-so that Landis' attempts to inject humour only manage to kill off any scrap of tension that was there. Shruggable.
  • Doctor0Quinzel
    November 28, 2010
    Doctor0Quinzel
    I didn't get the "humor" of this film. It felt like a mess, the overall idea for the film isn't bad, it's just boring to watch.
  • trisarahtops22
    April 22, 2009
    trisarahtops22
    Pretty dumb...not worth watching again.

View All Into the Night Reviews

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
April 10, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

The film itself tries sometimes too hard for laughs and at other times strains for shock. Full Review

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Maybe what the movie needed was more professional discipline and less geniality. As a rule, it's probably better to throw the party after the filming is finished. Full Review

Vincent Canby
May 20, 2003
Vincent Canby, New York Times

A little bit of Into the Night is funny, a lot of it is grotesque and all of it has the insidey manner of a movie made not for the rest of us but for moviemakers on the Bel Air circuit who watch each ... Full Review

Dave Kehr
January 1, 2000
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Thin and familiar. Full Review

April 10, 2008
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The tone, despite the frequent bloodletting, is light, and the film works better than the script would indicate. Full Review

April 21, 2007
Time Out

Pfeiffer in particular takes the sort of glamorous yet preposterous part that generally defeats even the best actress and somehow contrives to make it credible every inch of the way. Full Review

Rob Thomas
March 3, 2006
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Landis at his most cameo-obsessed and self-indulgent.

Scott Weinberg
April 17, 2005
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com

Strange ensemble noir comedy chase flick.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
August 21, 2004
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

An uninteresting and off-putting movie.

May 24, 2003
Film4

Even the glossy photography and Pfeiffer's convincing performance can't make this add up to more than its slightly amusing parts. Full Review

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Into the Night Trivia

  • In the Film Hot Chick, which Actor changed into the hot chick over night?  Answer »
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