The Good Girl

This one is actually 10 years old this year. And I had a feeling I had seen it but could not recollect. About 10 minutes into the movie it all started coming back to me. And so did the reasons for not recollecting the movie. Considering that it was exceptionally slow and bordering on a bit loose in the head in terms of Jake Gyllenhaal’s character. But having committed to it, and not having reviewed it (which is an important reason for me these days to watch a movie ), I decided to stick to it and fight my heavy eye lids on my return flight from Brisbane to watch The Good Girl. Turns out that it was my immature self which found the movie to be not so great. It wasn’t a wasted hour and a half at the end of the day.

From a casting perspective, I would always have cast Jennifer Aniston in the role of Justine Last, a 30 something check in clerk at the local “Retail Rodeo” store. She has the “goody two shoes” aura about her coupled with “girl next door” looks which make her the ideal candidate for the role of a woman who is exceptionally frustrated with her marriage to Phil Last (John C Reilly). Phil is a painter by profession and basically lounges around at home after a hard day’s work and doesn’t make himself useful in any way. Another example of perfect casting. John C Reilly is so capable of playing the loser role that I sometimes think he has been typecast into such kind of roles for the rest of his life. Phil has another loser friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson) who gives him company in doing nothing.

Enter the mentally disturbed, Holden Worther (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has renamed himself form his birth name of Thomas after being inspired by Holden Caulfield. He is exceptionally frustrated about how the world doesn’t let people be what they actually want to be and helps Justine bring to life exactly the same emotions. The only difference being Justine is not wonky in the head and young Holden is half way there. But sparks fly enough for them to have an affair and get Justine seriously thinking about running away from the small town that they are in and start a new life.

The performances all round are very good and in line with the characters that the actors are supposed to play. A very young Jake Gyllenhaal exceeds himself surprisingly. However, director Miguel Arteta (6 ft under; Ugly Betty), could have added some amount of pace to the movie. He took the small town laid back life a bit too seriously is what I thought. For the not so regular movie goer, it could be a challenge in parts to sit through The Good Girl. But overall, a good effort form the entire crew for this 6 on 10. Watch it if you are OK with slow movies that take time to build up.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi519242009/