Married engineer in Los Angeles, stuck in a rut and unable to sleep at night, gets mixed up with a kooky girl willingly being used as a courier for a jewel smuggler; she's got the six priceless emeralds hidden in a jacket, and now the couple is being chased all over the city by international villains. Lively comedy-thriller from director John Landis, who has filled many of the supporting roles with his filmmaker friends (and given himself a plum part as well); nevertheless, his movie loses its bearings whenever it becomes too realistically violent, although leads Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer turn out to be an affable romantic match. The picture is disarming and entertaining most of the way, with Irene Papas giving a magnetic performance as the couple's 'drop', a no-nonsense descendant of Iranian royalty. Pretty funny once you get the idea, however Ron Koslow's screenplay has elements that fail to cohere, such as Goldblum's boring job and unfaithful wife. Making a guest appearance, filmmaker Jonathan Demme, whose "Married to the Mob" in 1988 also starred Pfeiffer, ultimately delivered his own funny/violent movie very similar in tone to this one. **1/2 from ****
Review of Into the Night
