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Have you ever watched Memento and thought to yourself, \u201cI wish there was a crappier version of this film that makes no sense?\u201d Well, your search is over, because 2014\u2019s Before I Go to Sleep is streaming on Netflix. It\u2019s billed as a psychological thriller, and technically it is, but it completely falls apart under scrutiny if you watch it for more than five seconds and have an IQ higher than the average goldfish.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the talent involved either. Before I Go to Sleep is adequately acted, and it looks fine. There are even some pretty neat flashback sequences. There\u2019s nothing wrong with the cinematography, but the cast and crew alone can\u2019t save a screenplay like this. You can\u2019t act your way out of a premise so profoundly stupid that it requires four ibuprofen and a cool, dark room to recover from. The movie\u2019s about amnesia, but unfortunately, I remember watching it, so I might as well talk about it.<\/p>\n
Like Memento But Without The Drama, Mystery, Tension, Or Smart Hooks<\/p>\n
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Here\u2019s the story that Before I Go to Sleep tries to tell. Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman<\/a>) has amnesia. Every day, her husband Ben (Colin Firth) gives her a 50 First Dates crash course on her identity, their relationship, her injury, and her memory loss. Meanwhile, another man named Mike Nasch (Mark Strong), who claims to be her psychologist, calls her daily to remind her that she\u2019s keeping a record of her thoughts on a camera hidden in a shoebox in her closet. Every day, Christine wakes up, forgets what happened the day before, and repeats the cycle.<\/p>\n Christine has been living like this for 14 years. It\u2019s only when the movie begins that all of this suddenly becomes a problem. She starts remembering her old friend Claire (Ann-Marie Duff), who gives her a crash course on what her life has been like since the accident. Through these increasingly preposterous encounters, Christine learns that she had a son with Ben. She also learns that Ben divorced her at some point, yet she\u2019s still living with him. On top of that, Mike may not be entirely truthful, even though he\u2019s the one who encouraged her to document everything in the first place. Smells like red herring to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n Falls Apart During The First Act<\/p>\n What\u2019s most perplexing about Before I Go to Sleep is how long Christine has been living like this without any meaningful intervention. She has no recollection of anything before her accident each time she wakes up. She should never be left alone to her own devices because she has a severe cognitive disability. The friends she reconnects with are way too casual about everything, as if hearing from someone out of the blue years after their traumatic brain injury is totally normal.<\/p>\n I understand that someone like Claire may have had repeated encounters with Christine and is playing along to avoid upsetting her, but that\u2019s not what\u2019s being implied here. Everything is far too convenient, with all signs pointing to the fact that somebody is up to something, which we learn through Christine\u2019s flashbacks. The problem is that these flashbacks aren\u2019t reliable, and they\u2019re clearly being influenced by manipulative sources.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re wondering who the manipulative source is, try the one living with her who has clearly been controlling the narrative from the opening scene onward. I\u2019d say spoiler alert, but if you\u2019ve seen even a couple psychological thrillers, you\u2019ll know exactly how this ends before the opening credits finish rolling.<\/p>\n Nicole Kidman<\/a>, Colin Firth, and Mark Strong do about as well as they can with what they\u2019re given. But if I\u2019m being honest, you\u2019re better off huffing paint, watching 50 First Dates<\/a> and Memento on two separate screens, and trying to piece them together every time you regain consciousness. It\u2019s basically the same experience.<\/p>\n![\"Before](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Before-I-Go-To-Sleep-2014-4-900x506.png\")
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