The Good Girl

Jennifer Anniston stars as Justine in "The Good Girl", though she is far from being good in this film. Justine is bored with the monotony and lack of direction in her life. She is especially bored with her husband, Phil (John C. Reilly)--a nice but vacuous guy who'd rather smoke pot and drink beer than anything else. So does she go to her husband about her feelings of inadequacy? Nope. Instead she begins an affair with a co-worker--a disaffected goth-like guy named Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal). Of course this all ends up in HUGE complications--and what exactly these are you'll have to learn for yourself if you see this movie.

This film about dissatisfaction is well made but also very different. There is no nice object lesson in the film nor are the characters particularly nice folks you could are about when their lives go out of control. It also seems to indicate that when you are in trouble, the best course of action is to lie your butt off! Additionally, horrible things happen to nice people and jerks sometimes land on their feet just fine! Obviously, this film is not one you'll want to show the kids due to these lessons...as well as the sexual behavior. If you love Jennifer Anniston and dark humor (though this isn't exactly a comedy), then the film is clearly for you. Others might find it hard to really care about the film or the characters--making it an odd but skippable curio.

"The Good Girl" was heavily touted as the film that would help Jennifer Aniston break from her Rachel persona and make the leap to dramatic film actress. There was even talk (however brief) about an Academy Award nomination for her when this film came out. Surprise, surprise, but that didn't happen. And where has Aniston's film career been since? "The Good Girl" is leaps and bounds better than any of Aniston's other ventures into film--bland crap like "Picture Perfect" and that other movie whose name I can't even remember--but it's not a great movie in and of itself.

Aniston does a pretty good job, but you still can't escape the suspicion that she's just playing Jennifer Aniston, albeit a drabbed down version of herself. This movie's greatest asset is its supporting cast, particularly Zooey Deschanel in a very funny, dead pan role as a fellow worker at the Wal-Mart-esquire store Aniston's character works in, and Jake Gyllenhaal, who had begun his trek to stardom the year before in "Donnie Darko." The gods were being kind to Gyllenhaal in 2002, as he got to make out with both Aniston and Catherine Keener ("Lovely and Amazing") in the same year.

"The Good Girl" is certainly worth watching. It captures that nowheresville feeling of small-town America perfectly, the antithesis of every Frank Capra movie on the same subject. Instead of a cosy town where everyone knows your name, these towns are instead full of bored, restless people sitting around waiting for something, anything, to happen.

Grade: B-

Years ago I had a conversation with some young guy who worked on the loading docks. He was frustrated by his life, felt inarticulate and incapable of escaping his plight or of really doing anything with his life. He had the wish but not the talent to express himself through art and felt he had nothing to look forward to. I thought of him while watching The Good Girl, a movie about a very ordinary person trapped in a hum drum existence.

I've noticed some discussion in these reviews as to whether The Good Girl is a comedy or drama, and I would suggest people stop trying to label the movie. The Good Girl clearly isn't trying to be either, but simply a movie that captures the life of someone who feels trapped, portraying both the drama and comedy inherent in life. It's a small, studied, intelligently written movie that's well worth watching. Don't worry about what it is, just watch it and take it the way you take life, not as a comedy or drama but just as what it is.

It's been a while since I've seen this film. My original copy was actually on VHS, so had to wait to find a DVD. I like this movie from the start to the finish. Great characters all the way through which for me is the best part of the movie. Great acting as well. You can actually feel Justine's (Jennifer Aniston) pain at being stuck in a small town with a lousy job and the feeling that life is going nowhere. Lots of quirky turns in this film as well as the story goes along. Fun story with a lot o reality to it. I think it's one of Jennifer's best, but then I pretty much like everything she's in. Great actress.

After watching the Good Girl, I now know why Jennifer Aniston was getting a lot of praise. I'm surprised she didn't get an Oscar nomination. She was very good in this because the character is nothing like her character from Friends, and she was very convincing as the bored wife in a small town who hates her job and is depressed by her stoner husband. But, I have to say her accent was not very good. Why do these actors who have never lived in the south think everyone sounds like some slow hick.

This movie is a lot more entertaining than you think just from a quick synopsis of the plot. Justine starts an affair with a young co-worker who becomes obsessed with her and turns out being mentally disturbed. The decision she makes at the end about turning left or turning right was just well written and directed. And the movie does have light laughs with the blackberries when Justing decides to buy some for Holden. And the fact her husband is always stoned with his buddy, Bubba, watching TV. But, the part where Bubba blackmails Justine into sleeping with him was just creepy because her husband is his best friend. I just didn't get that part because I don't think the character would have done that.

FINAL VERDICT: I recommend this. Don't be fooled because it doesn't have a bunch of explosions and gun fights. It is very good and a lot more entertaining than most films.