Goodbye Honey

It is understandable if all those negatives turn you off from watching Goodbye Honey. However, as hard as this may be to believe, the good elements do outweigh the bad. For starters, the cast is fantastic. For all the issues with how Dawn is written, Morgan is convincing in every scene. She smooths over some of those writing problems through sheer talent and is the stoic glue holding the narrative together.

As Phoebe, Gobin is quite remarkable. She sells her fear and frustrations wonderfully. When she tells Dawn that she is sorry for hiding and not helping out with the two punks (a dumb exchange, for a variety of reasons), it feels genuine. Without spoiling too much, just know the rest of the cast is also good, though no one else reaches the same heights as the two leads.

“…every scene…is dripping with menace and dread.”

Strand directs Goodbye Honey in a very claustrophobic manner, ably mirroring the struggles facing Phoebe. This means that every scene, no matter how pointless or awkward it winds up being, is dripping with menace and dread. The exhilaration brought on by the constant tension is nail-biting intensity at its very best. Yes, Strand is so skilled a director that he is able to overcome plot holes and bad characterizations to deliver thrillers that rarely let up. That is talent.

As mentioned earlier, the cinematography is great. Co-writer Todd Rawiszer was also the director of photography, and he turned the sparse locations into seemingly dangerous places. The music also helps the movie feel as tense and uneasy as it does. The marriage of the score and the cinematography is as close to perfect as it gets (see the first paragraph about the cold open).

Overlooking some plot holes, such as a state park even being open at such a time, so that the story of Goodbye Honey can even take place, is fine. But, glossing over glaring issues such as Dawn being an inhuman monster without feelings is much tougher to justify. However, if one can get past the writing problems, they’ll find a captivating thriller. It is well-acted, looks amazing, and most importantly, delivers the thrills and suspense it promises from the first scene to the last. While flawed, missing out would mean depriving oneself of heart-stopping sequences that rival anything the big studios can crank out.