The Good Girl (2002)

Director:

Miguel Arteta

Writer (WGA):

Mike White (written by)

Release Date:

25 August 2002 (Canada)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

It's her last best chance... is she going to take it?

Plot:

A discount store clerk strikes up an affair with a stock boy who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.

Plot Keywords:

Black Comedy | Catcher In The Rye | Cuckold | Disturbing | Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship

Awards:

5 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Jennifer Aniston	...	Justine Last
Deborah Rush	...	Gwen Jackson
Mike White	...	Corny
John Carroll Lynch	...	Jack Field, Your Store Manager
Jake Gyllenhaal	...	Holden Worther
Zooey Deschanel	...	Cheryl
John C. Reilly	...	Phil Last
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Bubba
Jacquie Barnbrook	...	Heavy Set Woman
Annie O'Donnell	...	Haggard Woman
John Doe	...	Mr. Worther
Roxanne Hart	...	Mrs. Worther
Jon Shere	...	Lester (as Jonathan Shere)
Alice Amter	...	Big Haired Woman
Jean Rhodes	...	Old Woman

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, some language and drug content.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA | Germany | Netherlands

Language:

English

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Germany:12 | Ireland:12 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #38723)

Filming Locations:

Glen Capri Motel - 6700 San Fernando Rd., Glendale, California, USA

Company:

Flan de Coco Films

Trivia:

The cartoon Phil and Bubba were watching on the television when Justine comes home is "Happy Tree Friends".

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the news report of the suicide, the newscaster's lips are out of sync with the video.

Quotes:

Justine: How it all came down to this, only the Devil knows. Retail Rodeo is at the corner on my left. The motel is down the road to my right. I close my eyes and try to peer into the future. On my left, I saw days upon days of lipstick and ticking clocks, dirty looks and quiet whisperings. And burning secrets that just won't ever die away. And on my right, what could I picture? The blue sky, the desert earth, stretching out into the eerie infinity. A beautiful never-ending nothing.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Reba: The Good Girl (#3.19)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Air

So-So Dramatic Vehicle for Aniston

"The Good Girl" was heavily touted as the film that would help Jennifer Aniston break from her Rachel persona and make the leap to dramatic film actress. There was even talk (however brief) about an Academy Award nomination for her when this film came out. Surprise, surprise, but that didn't happen. And where has Aniston's film career been since? "The Good Girl" is leaps and bounds better than any of Aniston's other ventures into film--bland crap like "Picture Perfect" and that other movie whose name I can't even remember--but it's not a great movie in and of itself.

Aniston does a pretty good job, but you still can't escape the suspicion that she's just playing Jennifer Aniston, albeit a drabbed down version of herself. This movie's greatest asset is its supporting cast, particularly Zooey Deschanel in a very funny, dead pan role as a fellow worker at the Wal-Mart-esquire store Aniston's character works in, and Jake Gyllenhaal, who had begun his trek to stardom the year before in "Donnie Darko." The gods were being kind to Gyllenhaal in 2002, as he got to make out with both Aniston and Catherine Keener ("Lovely and Amazing") in the same year.

"The Good Girl" is certainly worth watching. It captures that nowheresville feeling of small-town America perfectly, the antithesis of every Frank Capra movie on the same subject. Instead of a cosy town where everyone knows your name, these towns are instead full of bored, restless people sitting around waiting for something, anything, to happen.

Grade: B-