Movie #7 - Into The Night

I have several days home alone, and so thought I should capitalize on this time to clean the house & watch movies.  I am still dying to see Bridesmaids, but for a person who's kind of movie inept (no Netflix, never used Redbox, late to the game on a library reservation, etc..) it wasn't easy for me to track it down today.  So I decided, instead, I would just choose something free from On Demand.

I ended up choosing 1985's Into The Night.  The real reason I chose it was because my best friend has a lifelong, eternal crush on Jeff Goldblum, and he stars.

In other posts, I try to do a lot of hyperlinking, to get people to actual, relevant source material -- or at least to material of people more knowledgeable than I am.  This one, I'm trying to keep it to a minimum, because I have thoughts & reactions to this weird little movie, and would like to write them and THEN research.

The premise of the movie is that Jeff Goldblum's character has chronic insomnia, and it's causing a number of problems.  Through a series of misadventures, he meets Michelle Pfeiffer's character, and rescues her from being killed by a variety of bad guys.  [Spoiler:  It has a happy ending for the two actors I've mentioned, but not for tons of others..]

It was funny to watch this movie I'd never heard of that was so totally representing a time in the USA in my youth.  Complete with big shoulderpads, feathered hair, synthesizer soundtracks and inappropriate stereotypes, it was awkward in the way many movies from the mid-80's are.

But it also had these clever filmic moments that I really admired!  There's a scene where Goldblum is trying to find Pfeiffer in a big fancy apartment/suite thing, and as he creeps from room to room, the TV is on in every room, and what's being shown is a retro black&white Scary Movie, so that the soundtrack from the Scary Movie becomes the soundtrack of Goldblum's search.

There were other interesting moments / montages / constructs.  I wonder -- do all mediocre movies have these, and I rarely notice them? Do I ascribe interesting things to this film because of the nascent star power put into it (John Landis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff Goldblum)? And really, most of all. who in the hell do you have to be to get Dan Aykroyd, Jim Henson and David Bowie to cameo in your film????