# Closing Night aims high, lands loud

> Cody Fern's directing debut strains for art-house family pain but cannot settle on a tone.
- Title: Closing Night aims high, lands loud · The Hollywood Reporter
- Summary: Cody Fern's directing debut strains for art-house family pain but cannot settle on a tone. Big influences and a deluxe cast cannot save a melodrama if its…
- Keywords: closing night, cody fern, sarah paulson, naomi watts, john cassavetes, opening night, gena rowlands, pedro almodovar, family melodrama, tiff, directing debut, Closing
- Source: The Hollywood Reporter — https://hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/closing-night-review-sarah-paulson-naomi-watts-cody-fern-1236702691
- Author: David Rooney
- Published: 2026-09-16T01:12:07+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: closing night, cody fern, sarah paulson, naomi watts, john cassavetes, opening night, gena rowlands, pedro almodovar, family melodrama, tiff, directing debut
## Fern steps behind camera
Actor Cody Fern makes his directing debut with Closing Night, led by Sarah Paulson and Naomi Watts in a high-end family melodrama.

> actor-turned-director Cody Fern’s debut
## Cassavetes hovers nearby
The film appears to nod to John Cassavetes' Opening Night, the 1977 Gena Rowlands drama about an actress in personal crisis.

> a refraction of John Cassavetes’ Opening Night
## Ambition outruns control
That reference is framed as one of several places where Fern reaches for more than he can handle.

> the filmmaker’s aim exceeding his reach
## Almodóvar is the target
For much of the runtime, the movie seems to chase Pedro Almodóvar style, with heightened emotion, motherhood, trauma and family secrets.

> turbulent motherhood scarred by traumatic family secrets
## Tone keeps slipping
The problem is not the premise or cast, but Fern's shaky command of tone as the movie shifts toward grief and sorrow.

> lacks the firm grasp of tone
## Key takeaway

Big influences and a deluxe cast cannot save a melodrama if its tone keeps slipping out of control.