The Good Girl

The Good Girl
by Miguel Arteta

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Movie Reviews of The Good Girl

Movie Review: Lifted above mediocre by phenomenal performances
Summary: 5 Stars

The basic plot, without spoiling anything, is this: Justine is a young married woman whose husband is a gentle but somewhat slow pothead. She involves herself with Holden, a co-worker, hoping for a temporary diversion from what she sees as the dead end of her life. She underestimates Holden's immaturity, however, and her efforts to reverse her initial poor decision cause things to get more and more out of control for her. Yes, it isn't a terribly action-filled plot, but who of us leads a life that would read like a James Bond film if summarized in five sentences? And therein lies the genius of this little film: accurately reproducing the little mannerisms and patterns that mark day-to-day life.

The script, written by supporting actor Mike White, contains some geniunely comic moments. The character of Cheryl, Justine's sarcastic co-worker, provides consistent humor, and Zooey Deschanel steals all of her scenes. However, the poignant and dramatic scenes could easily have come off as cheesy if portrayed by actors any less accomplished than the ones cast. Jennifer Aniston gained my complete respect with this performance, which is leagues away from anything she has done in comedies or for TV. She portrays Justine's quiet desperation with finesse and expressiveness. Jake Gyllenhaal, reprising the "disturbed young man" role he did so well in "Donnie Darko", manages to express a range of emotions with very little shift in facial expression, showing a mastery of his art that is positively precocious at his age. At this point the only problem Gyllenhaal has is that he is so good in this role that he risks being typecast. The supporting cast is great as well: John C. Reilly offers yet another dead-on portrayal of a cuckolded husband, Tim Blake Nelson is the perfect typical stoner with darker desires percolating in his subconscious, and Mike White has written himself into the film perfectly as the religious-zealot security guard.

This is not an easy film to watch. Its themes are troubling, its ending does not neatly wrap up everyone's stories, and the characters we are supposed to root for sometimes make decisions that are extremely hard to justify. But the film does a great job at getting behind the decisions people make that sometimes seem incomprehensible to others. In short, this is a film you should see if you don't mind that it may not leave your thoughts for several days. It manages to amuse at times, but ultimately leaves you with questions of "Why did that happen?" and "What did that mean?". Kind of like life itself.

Summary of The Good Girl