To me, this movie is perfection.

One of my all time favorites.

Fantastic!

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

If there isn't much in this modest, sub-Hitchcock thriller worth criticizing it's only because there isn't much in it worth noticing at all. The premise is fascinating: that a drug might be used (or, in this case, abused) to block the chemical in our brains that inhibits muscular action during sleep, allowing us to unconsciously act out our dreams. But the script never aspires toward anything more than a routine psycho-thriller of curiously limited means: the film seems to have been made on two or three sparse studio sets with a very small cast, led by Kristy McNichol as the young test subject who naturally forgets to ask about an antidote. A throw away release doomed the film to a quick, easy death at the box office, which is a shame considering the far worse features being plugged that same summer, and the unsettling streak of sadism didn't help matters: most of McNichol's dreams find her a victim of rape and/or extreme violence.

In the opening and closing credits, the filmmakers acknowledge the services of sleep research centers and consultants in the making of this movie. But while there is some educational dialogue about dreams, the main concept - the heroine acting out her dreams - is not as innovative as they seem to think; haven't these people ever heard of the word "sleepwalking"? Kristy McNichol is fine (if one-note) in a demanding role, but director Pakula's pacing is off, the thrills are few, and the finale, with one character apparently transforming into Superman, is ludicrous. (*1/2)

Kristy McNicol is totally miscast and the ending, the one that takes place outside with the characters teetering on the edge of the skyscraper, was really bad and a groaner, but the rest of the film is pretty good. I'm not a big Pakula fan but I really like his minimalist approach to the somewhat contrived story. The look and feel of the film are my favorite part. The cinematography is excellent. McNicol's NY apartment is one of my favorites in any movie. It's so small and compact but cool. Wish I had it. The recurring dreams have a really unsettling quality to them. I'm impressed that Pakula actually went ahead and had these dream sequence be really become repetitive. I'm sure this turned off a huge portion of the audience but I thought they were really effective because they were so repetitive. The sound design during those nightmares sequences are also worth noting. The dream sequences of McNicol walking down a huge hallway were also amazing. I give the film's production design a huge 10. I wish I could give 10 to the rest of the film but can't. But even with all its faults, DREAM LOVER is a very overlooked movie.

Fans of Kristy McNichol (and her character 'Buddy' from TV's "Family") probably won't like this movie much as it dispels the actress's jovial tomboy persona and showcases a darker side. As a young flautist who is both enamored of and terrified of her widower papa, McNichol's extraordinary acting range gets a real work-out; director Alan J. Pakula keeps her low-keyed and appealing, but also intensely focused. The domineering daddy (Paul Shenar, a Ray Wise look-alike who'd be right at home in a David Lynch story) is a puzzlement, and the other supporting characters are sketchily-drawn, but Kristy is surprisingly right at home in these spooky, melodramatic settings. Attacked by a stranger, and then wracked by nightmares, McNichol seeks help in an unorthodox dream-research lab--which only makes things worse. "Dream Lover" is an intricate, deliberately-paced psychological thriller with some stunning set-pieces: the green lamp (and its evil implications), the refrigerator hawking on (signaling the terror ahead), the mix of two dreams (wherein Kristy's Kathy takes flight) and the entire last reel, where one sequence is seen differently through two pairs of eyes. Take note that this is a slow movie. It wants to build a character study by moving each chess piece smoothly and efficiently across the board. When I saw this in the theater, the few people there were yawning. Give this a chance. It successfully maneuvers itself into hazy crawlspaces that few films manage to do. ***1/2 from ****