The Night Listener

DVD review There are some big ideas struggling for air, but the film is neither gripping as a thriller nor makes the most of its interesting source material.

There are some big ideas struggling for air in The Night Listener, which is based on Armisted Maupin's semi-autobiographical novel about Gabriel Noone (Williams), the middle-aged writer of a popular radio serial. In the midst of a personal crisis, Noone strikes up a telephone friendship with a young author (Culkin) who has written a Dave Pelzer-style memoir about being abused by his parents. When Noone discovers that no one involved with publishing the book has ever met the boy in the flesh, he begins to question whether he is real or an invention of his foster mother Donna (Collette). The novel, based on Maupin's real-life experiences with a hoax memoir, managed to combine this mystery with musing about the nature of being a writer, and an exploration of father-son relationships. The film touches on this, but mostly goes full tilt for the thriller side of things, culminating in a ludicrous late-night chase through a paediatric ward. Williams is on the right side of schmaltzy for once, and Collette is creepy as the possibly deranged Donna, but the film feels like a missed opportunity, neither gripping as a thriller nor making the most of its interesting subject matter.