How many choices do we make in a day? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? Thousands? Every step we take technically involves a choice of some kind. Most have little significance. Decaf or regular, paper or plastic, do dishes or take a nap (oh, sorry, that last one’s mostly mine). Others are clearly life choices, whether or not to take a job, get married, move to a new city. What turn out to be the most problematic are those choices that fall somewhere in between. We tell ourselves they mean little, when in fact they impact everything. This is the story of The Good Girl.

Justine (Jennifer Aniston) is in a rut. She hates her job at a small town Texas convenience store; she’s dissatisfied with her stagnant marriage, as well as her inability to conceive a child. Her husband Phil (John C. Reilly) and his pal Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson) spend an inordinate amount of time stoned after spending their days painting houses. None of these people are the sharpest crayon in the box, Justine included, but her contempt for her surroundings is obvious. Basically she is completely disgruntled with her world and everything in it.

Along comes Holden/Tom (Jake Gyllenhal) – he likes to be called Holden because his favorite book is, you guessed it, Catcher in the Rye. Holden is a new clerk at the convenience store who catches the eye of the bored and frustrated Justine – for just that reason, he’s something new. Holden fancies himself a deep writer type, misunderstood by all. Except Justine. They strike up a relationship based on Holden’s perception that finally someone “gets” him (which bears a striking resemblance to someone being willing to sleep with him), and Justine’s need to step outside her tepid world (which bears a striking resemblance to wanting to sleep with someone besides Phil). Justine is unprepared for the consequences of her actions, as she becomes further enveloped by this choice she made without due consideration. We see each choice she must make, for the most part see them coming, but don’t necessarily know which way she’ll go at each crossroad.

On the surface, The Good Girl is a standard, and fairly predictable, story about infidelity and it consequences for all involved. Underneath, it’s a story about the choices, one after another, that one woman makes in an arrogant and ill-conceived attempt to find “meaning” in her life. Within herself, she knows all along that her life lies with her husband, but she wants to play this game, likes the “secret”. When the other participants in the game begin to stray from her expectations, she becomes flustered, only then understanding what she’s really done, both to herself and to those around her. After a while, when Justine realizes the severity of her situation, she begins to try and control it. At this point it becomes harder to sympathize with her as she makes fully conscious choices that she knows will adversely affect others, but just may save her butt.

Of all the cast members of Friends Jennifer Aniston seems to be the one with the brightest big screen future. She plays Justine with a kind of glazed lack of expression or comprehension very fitting to the role. She lets us see the endless dreariness of Justine’s world as Justine sees it. Her Texas accent is not overdone, and she pulls it off without a hitch. Our perception of her life changes as hers does. We begin to see below the surface and have an appreciation for these people and this place that she has chosen to make up her world.

Jake Gyllenhal is a little one dimensional as the disaffected and troubled youth. We see his instability from the beginning, but the movie is able to convince us that Justine is either unwilling or unable to see these signs. When Holden announces at the beginning of the movie that he was named for The Catcher in the Rye, Justine asks him if his name is Catcher. This would be funny, if only she were really kidding. She has no idea what the book means, or what his choice of name says about him, and makes no attempt to find out. Even after reading his stories, all of which end in his suicide, she fails to really see that this is not Joe average, she’s too caught up in her own fantasy. Gyllenhal plays the part he’s given well, but the character doesn’t offer anything new to the general role of “troubled youth” we’ve seen before.

John C. Reilly as Phil plays his role with conviction and great skill. He really comes through with an excellent performance as the quite dim, but basically decent husband without a clue (either to his wife’s actions, or her general dissatisfaction). He’s just a guy who thinks life is pretty good. But do note the subtle reference to his pot motivation toward the end of the film. He’s really a guy making the best of the life he’s got.

Tim Blake Nelson turns in yet another good performance this year (after nice turns in Cherish and Minority Report) as the hanger on friend Bubba, who has more going on in his head than it first appears.

Writer Mike White and director Miguel Artela both come through with a movie that really lets its main character make her choices and suffer for them. The end result is a movie with lots of foreshadowing of what Justine might do, and a fairly realistic resolution based on what she does do. Supported by strong performances and a nicely balanced score by Joey Waronker, Tony Maxwell, James O’Brien and Mark Orton, the movie is a well done, if not particularly cheery, slice of life. Be prepared for some discussion after this one. I saw it with a group of women, and the variety of reactions was impressive. This is the kind of movie that lends itself to analysis of both the characters and the situations. Definitely worth seeking out.


Recommended: Yes