When your life is as dull and humdrum as
Justine’s (Jennifer Aniston), who unlike American Beauty’s Lester
Burnham doesn’t have daily highlights of bathroom masturbation, a few lumps of
sinful excitement must sound appetizing. And not sin in the typical “forgive
me father…” sense, but in the gaspingly twisted Mike White way; where simple
matters sharply veer towards bizarre-o land making us forget they were ever
simple. The Good Girl, which re-teams White with Chuck & Buck
director Miguel Arteta, is a well-made obscure comedy that, with its off-romp
situations getting zanier by the scene, could almost pass for a Coen brothers
film. Insert a few cartoonish chase sequences and you’d get a darker version
of Raising Arizona.
Instead of choosing crime as a way of
escaping life’s everyday routine, like Nicholas Cage’s H.I. McDonnough did,
our main character opts for adultery and sparks an affair with her somber
22-year old coworker, Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal); thus triggering a chain of
events that may determine the remaining course of her life. But The Good Girl
isn't merely about the choices we make and how decisions affect the lives of
those surrounding us, but why these choices are made. The fact that
it’s all told in low-key fashion, which amazingly doesn’t detract any of the
film’s thudding shocks (it actually increases their voltage), is another
contributing factor to why this Sundance favorite works on many levels,
including one of poignancy.
Living in The Good Girl's chilly midwestern
town, which looks like an updated version of The Last Picture Show, can make
Richard Simmons chronically depressed. And at the age of 32, that is exactly
what Justine is - depressed. Unhappily married to a painter/pothead/couch-potato (John
C. Reilly), who with best friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson) gets stoned daily
while discussing ideal ways to utilize paint, and miserably employed at the
Retail Rodeo, Justine desperately needs some form of change. Stagnant small-town
life, and its content citizens who’ve comfortably adjusted to their destinies,
is driving her crazy, but luckily she’s not alone. Holden, an obvious fan of
J.D. Salinger’s work, is a young dark writer sharing Justine’s negative
viewpoints. Through sexual interaction they’re able to connect and feel
liberated from life’s dull repetitions.
Matters are quickly complicated and spiral
into comically dark situations once the affair is sparked. But what is truly unexpected, even more so
than the perverse turns taken by The Good Girl, is Jennifer Aniston
playing against-type in a less than charming role. Gaining indie-credibility
with her moving and downplayed performance, Aniston proves that her happy-go-lucky
Rachel, the beloved girl-next-door from NBC’s highly rated Friends,
isn’t Mrs. Brad Pitt’s only persona.
The Good Girl
is not weird simply
for the sake of being unusual, like most mindless Adam Sandler comedies; rather
its weirdness is a serviceable way to place a spin on gloomy themes such as sexual
infidelity and the effects of change. In one of the film’s funniest
scenes, our adulteress is discovered by Bubba, who blackmails Justine into
sleeping with him. This minor twist isn’t included simply because watching the
lonely painter get his rocks off is funny, but because Bubba idolizes his best
friend’s life and sees sex with Justine as a chance of being liberated from envy.
White, who also plays a nerdy bible-study
attending security guard, has a knack for creating alienated communities
populated by dozens of dimwitted characters who’re the cause of the
protagonist’s misery. It is White's ability to mix touching sentiments with
his comedic understanding that distinguishes him from less talented comedy writers like the Farrelly
brothers.
GRADE: B
-Copyright
2002 by
Shaun
Sages