[.ca] The Good Girl (Widescreen/Full Screen)

intriguing start descends into formulaic:
This movie starts out with an intriguing situation. Jennifer Aniston plays a depressed Retail Rodeo employee with a pig of a husband. She plays the role convincingly, making viewers feel the world of a small-town Texas woman. When she meets a new employee, a disturbed but more intellectual young man, she thinks she's found an escape from her daily drudgery. From this point on, events spiral downhill and the movie becomes disappointingly predictable. The element of surprise is lost and viewers are taken on a formulaic ride where predictable consequences come from foreseen actions. It's not a bad movie to watch on those nights when you want something light, just don't expect surprises.

Un-Rachel Jennifer: Dark, Unpredictable Comedy about Despair:
Can Jennifer Aniston do anyting better than "Rachel" after the successful TV drama that went on very long (or too long)? "The Good Girl" is the answer. Yes, she can, and in a surprising way. Justine (Aniston) is working at a mini-mart in Nowhereville, Texas, completely dissatisfied with the humdrum life with her pot-smoking husband (John C. Reiley), who just doesn't care anything about his life. Her work is boring, always in a drab uniform which makes eveything in her life quite hopeless. But one day, she notices that a young boy working in the same shop is interested in her. She is attracted to this boy (Jake Gyllenhaal, "Donnie Darko") who has, however, a slightly troublesome tendency. He calls himself "Holden" because, yes, he identified himself with that anti-hero of "Catcher in the Rye," and like Holden, this boy perhaps thinks too much. Now, Justine thinks: "Could this strange boy is the last and only help offered to her?" Can she escape from the dull reality of life? And if escape, how and where? It's the same case as Madame Bovary, whose name is briefly referred to in the film. "The Good Girl," written by Mike White (who wrote alarmingly unique "Chuck and Buck"), follows the life of Justine with a wry humor. Written with skewed perspectives, the film is never predictable, giving us a few surprising moments and one very serious decision Justine has to make. It is effectively supported by original characters played by Tim Blake Nelson, Zooey Deschanel, Deborah Rush, and Mike White himself as church-going guard. Its dark humor is not for everybody's taste, and the undercurrent statement on life is often disturbing. But Jennifer Aniston's acting as Justine is strong (though you may still see something of Rachel in her.) The film, in its own quiet way, will make you grin, and then think ... think particularly about life as it is, not as it should be.

Pleasantly suprising...:
Jennifer Aniston's work has never struck me as being either deep or watchable, but I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and engaging quality of 'The Good Girl'. Aniston's character, depressed and miserable in her marriage and in her job (a dead end job that she probably only ended up with because she was undereducated, a point another reviewer below sadly missed, judging by his misinterpretation of her response to a comment by her coworker regarding 'The Catcher In the Rye'), begins a friendship with a coworker several years younger than herself. She both enjoys and fears this relationship because although it makes her happy, she is terrified that her husband will find out about it. Her anxiety and fear increases when her husband's best friend finds out about her relationship and blackmails her into having sex with him. She reaches a crossroads, a point at which she must choose between the husband she loves and despises in equal measure and the relationship that she had begun with her coworker. I found it intriguing that when faced with what was the most important decision of her life, she made the choice that lead her back to the existence she hated. Ultimately, neither choice probably would have made her happy but she chose the path toward the familiar, deciding that the awful life she knew was preferable to a leap into the unknown. Her decision had dramatic, tragic consequences, both at work and at home. Aniston's acting was brilliant. I was amazed and completely drawn in by the film and by her performance in particular. She has a genuine talent and range I was completely unaware of, and now I'm anxious to see her future projects. 'The Good Girl' is wonderful in every aspect, from the writing to the cast, and the direction is flawless, lending a very real sense of the desolation and loneliness that is this woman's day to day existence. It's the kind of film that resonates, staying with you long after the credits roll. Absolutely wonderful!

All too real:
First off, this movie has some great acting...it's understated because the subject matter never strays from the mundane. My problem with this movie is that there is no magic. No greater storytelling art. The plot reads like a page from a small town's newspaper. The movie is overall fairly depressing. It starts off with Aniston's character in a crappy point in her life. The story evolves and things just seem to spiral out of control for her. The events serve no larger purpose however. In the end there is no lesson to be gleaned, no 'light at the end of the tunnel', the downward spiral is just like watching a person slowly ruin their life. I found this movie far too real. The story is the kind of thing you could find out about your neighbour. It's frustrating to watch a movie this dark, and for it to have no purpose or message to the despair. It's like a reminder you don't need that the world is a crappy place sometimes.

A Really Disturbing Film:
I have read all the other reviews for this movie and I am truly very surprised with how many people enjoyed it. I tried, really, to like this movie, but it is one movie that I truly despise. The story line in itself is unoriginal and also stupid. A woman is having a really bad life, so she starts trying to fix it, no big deal, maybe even intersting. But then her way of "fixing" it is to be in an affair with a strange pyscotic younger man. Not exactly what I think would qualify as fixing. This movie did not hold my attention and to this day I am sorry for the time that I will never get back that was spent watching that movie. On the plus side, the acting from Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal is very well done. That is the only plus side for the entire movie. Do yourself a favor and watch something you won't regret later, "Office Space" or "The Day After Tomorrow" if you're stuck on the actors, perhaps. Both of those movies are signicantly better.