Night Always Comes Movie Review

Night Always Comes (2025)

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Written by: Willy Vlautin (based on the book 'The Night Always Comes' by), Sarah Conradt (screenplay by)
Directed by: Benjamin Caron
Starring: Vanessa Kirby, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zack Gottsagen, Stephan James, Randall Park, Michael Kelly, Eli Roth
Rated: R
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Plot
Risking everything to secure a future for herself and her brother, Lynette sets out on a dangerous odyssey, confronting her own dark past over the course of one propulsive night.

Verdict
It's a frenetic action movie where the countdown clock is the coming morning. While the conclusion tries to make the struggle mean more, and it does look different the next morning, it's not enough. The movie is more concerned with action than building the character as the plot often opts for convenient contrivances. What development we get seems forced in the attempt to give this some depth.
Skip it.

Review
The beginning is none too subtle, Lynette (Vanessa Kirby) seems to be listening to every news and radio station talking about increasing prices, inflation, and the difficulty of buying a home. Lyntte has bills past due, and she's talking about buying a house. That plan falls apart when her mom spends the house down payment on a car instead. It derails the house, but that's a bit too simple. If mom was that impulsive, she would have spent the money much earlier. It's an easy kick start to the plot. If Lynette doesn't come up with the twenty five thousand by tomorrow morning the house is gone.

Lynette works multiple jobs, goes to school, and is also an escort. She's really burning the candle. The movie counts down the time as it runs out. She's contacting old friends, trying to scrape up anything. One friend just happens to owe her a lot of money and has a safe. Lynette's coworker at the bar, Cody (Stephan James), is a convict and knows a guy that can open a safe. Convenient. To the surprise of no one, that doesn't go well. 

Vanessa Kirby plays Lynette

While they get the safe open, there's more than money in the safe, and an altercation follows, several altercations. Lynette's night continues to spiral as she finally must contact her ex. There's a lot of emotional trauma to revisit, going back to him. She's walking right into all of her old haunts, full of bad memories and pain. She has to confront the past to ensure her future.

The conclusion attempts to twist what we've seen and give it a deeper meaning. While the events of the night certainly look different the next morning, it's not enough to save this movie. Lynette fought through the night to save the house deal, but part of the reveal is that her mom doesn't want the house. Again, that's something Lynette would have known earlier. The movie drops this bomb as a shock to make it seem like the struggle was for nothing. The upside is that Lynette has confronted her past and can take the cash and separate from her toxic mother in the next step of recovery.