Picture This! Rebecca Redshaw reviews “The Good Girl”
As Justine, Jennifer Aniston struggles with her boring, meaningless life and her past, present, and…
By Rebecca Redshaw
Reprinted from NotesFromHollywood.com
The time’s they are a changin’. Now being a “Bad Boy” is way cool. Pick your generation – Jack Nicholson, Charlie Sheen, Hugh Grant, Christian Slater – the list can go on and on. Being a “Good Girl” has never been as enticing or fashionable, at least since the Hollywood days of Grace Kelly.
As Justine, Jennifer Aniston struggles with her boring, meaningless life and her past, present, and God help her, future, as a “good girl.” Working at the Rodeo Roundup, wearing a Wal-mart-like blue vest uniform, coming home every night to an oafish, stoned lummox of a husband would be just about enough to do anybody in.
But the opportunity to be daring comes in the form of the store’s new cashier. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Tom who has delusions of literary grandeur he shares with Justine, his new soulmate.
Calling himself Horton after the character in J.D. Salinger’s CATCHER IN THE RYE, Tom feels an instant rapport with her because she “gets him” intellectually.
Well, he gets her to in the Biblical sense and therein lies her spiraling, and permanent fall off the good girl pedestal.
If lower or middle class economics contributes to one’s physical appearance, then the supporting cast in this movie can give up hopes of being named to PEOPLE Magazine’s Most Beautiful Issue. With the exception of Aniston, who is so damned attractive even trying to look bad she looks good, the actors look pretty goofy. Luckily, looks aren’t everything. Their performances are right on the money.
Director Miguel Arteta gets great performances out of John C. Reilly as the husband, Tim Blake as Bubba his couch buddy, and Mike White (also the screenwriter) as Bible-thumping Corey.
Some movies leave you as soon as the lights go up in the theatre. Some make you want to go get a coffee and talk about life. “The Good Girl” is worth a double latté.