The Good Guy

This film is about a successful young man working in Wall Street. His love life is put into jeopardy when he tries to be helpful by hiring a nerd for his sales team.

"The Good Guy" is an enjoyable and captivating drama about urban lives of young people. It has very good character development. Their work, social and love lives are portrayed in an ordinary and believable manner that makes them so real. They could have been people we know around us, and viewers can relate to them easily. All three lead actors and actresses sculpt their characters in an authentic manner. The way the characters change as the film progresses is also very interesting. This makes the story even more engaging, as viewers are left to wonder what will happen to them.

Screenwriters of a certain age think a stockbroker can make a cold call to a rich/poor person on the phone and they will sell them massive amounts of stock by pressuring them to buy now. That really doesn't happen.

It is true that this is only a muguffin to set up the three way romance. Still, the premise is so silly...They might as well be scientist trying to cure hiccups or philosophers fighting over the meaning of existence...or farmers growing the perfect ear of corn.

The basic premise is silly. That undermines the entire film. Nothing new happens in this very pedestrian film. A complete disappointment. The basic story has been done so many times before...and done so much better.

Julio DePietro's 'The Good Guy' tries to combine the romantic genre and buddy flick genre. It does use a lot of clichés. The story is quite predictable in the first hour and then there are some interesting subtle twists that unfold well during the final half hour. I liked how the director mislead the viewer into thinking one thing while they turned out to be something else. I felt the ending was a copout and a little too convenient as I would have preferred something darker.

While the characters are well developed, they are clichéd, especially the Daniel character who happens to be the ideal guy (his favourite book is 'Pride and Prejudice', he was in the army but he is gentle, soft-spoken, shy and kind of a pushover etc). The luminous Alexis Bledel is terrific in a role she's familiar with. Although I would like to see her play different characters in her forthcoming movies. Scott Porter is average and Bryan Greenburg is adequate. Anna Chlumsky is wasted.

'The Good Guy' could have benefited more had the clichés been reduced and the story been more layered, complex and dark. It isn't your average date movie as it would appear to be but it's better than that.

During this movie i felt like almost all of the conversations were awkward. Both of beth's relationships didn't feel smooth either. There was barely any scenes with tommy and the same goes to daniel. I don't know when did she even fall in love with him like yes the guy is sweet and all but he is too boring. The movie overall isn't bad I'm just not that crazy about it either.

"The Good Guy" is a relationship drama. You would be forgiven if you assumed it was yet another twenty-something girl trying to sort out her love life and career in a romantic comedy. You would be forgiven for thinking that, but you would also be wrong. It's actually better than that.

The film is driven by three characters, all of them completely fleshed-out and three-dimensional. Not one of them is central, but all of them individually and triangularly. The film continuously surprises in very subtle ways. The characters are better written than first appears, and even when the film tells you the characters will surprise you, it still comes as a surprise.

I was expecting a film about Beth - a very standard, trying to find herself story. What makes it better than that is the fact that it's a drama - I am hard-pressed to name a similar film without comedy undertones or overtones. This is a drama - dark and sombre.

"The Good Guy" may not be for everybody but it is a good twenty-somethings relationship story told through drama instead of comedy. In the film, Beth complains about a novel that she read where half-way through the narrator turns out to be unreliable. "What's the point of that?" she asks. Daniel responds "Well isn't that life? It surprises you." Indeed it does. "The Good Guy" may be just like life, dramatic, and it surprises you.