[ WEEKEND ]
COURTESY NEW YORK TIMES
Jennifer Aniston downplays her sunny "Rachel" persona as Justine in "The Good Girl."
In the story assignment process, I felt like all the guys had taken a step backward and I was the volunteer to see "The Good Girl." Not that I minded. The film (written by Mike White and directed by Miguel Arteta, co-conspirators on "Chuck & Buck" about a man's unrequited love for his boyhood friend) comes with good indie cred -- even if it does star soon-to-be-ex-"Friend" Jennifer Aniston. ‘Good Girl’ holds depth
"The Good Girl"
Rated R
Playing at Signature Dole Cannery
1/2
By Nadine Kam
nkam@starbulletin.com"You go ahead, have a good time," the male reporters said, and almost had me conned until adding, "It is a chick flick after all."
I hate a chick flick as much as anyone. The embarrassing laugh-through-tears Hollywood spectacles generally feature four women desperately trying to have a good time as they sing and dance badly while dispensing advice and sympathy, while partnering with the wrong men and waiting for something bad to happen so a lesson can be learned.
Give White and Arteta credit for avoiding the maudlin and letting a simple story unreel, with heart and a wicked sense of humor.
Aniston's character Justine works at the Retail Rodeo somewhere in Texas where she spends her days giving cosmetic makeovers to women whose lives need facelifts. Zooey Deschanel is deadpan hilarious as a smart-mouthed co-worker who amuses herself by insulting everyone in sight.
Justine can't relate to her customers, co-workers or her pothead, housepainter husband (played by John C. Reilly with little physical appeal), who you'd swear must have grown up sniffing lead paint. Phil's not a bad guy, just clueless as to what a woman wants and it's critical that he wise up fast after seven years of marriage. He spends more time with his best friend Bubba than his wife. Tim Blake Nelson, who played dim-witted Delmar in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" plays Bubba with equally comic, though slightly sinister, effect.
Justine skipped college so as not to lose Phil, and her life at 30, once full of promise, has reached a dead end. Her slouch and doomed expression causes co-workers to comment, "You look like death."
Into this drab existence steps a dark stranger played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Tom's his given "slave" name, but he calls himself Holden, based on his favorite book, "The Catcher in the Rye." At 22, he's a recovering alcoholic living with his parents, but Justine only sees the dark hair, intense gaze, pouty lips and suicidal scribblings of a tortured artist. They connect in mutual despair. He, too, had given up on ever "gettin' got" by anyone.
Like a modern-day Madame Bovary, Justine finds in Holden's words and arms all of love's illusions come to life.
COURTESY NEW YORK TIMES
Justine, played by Jennifer Aniston, is married to Phil (John C. Reilly), a housepainter, in the dark comedy “The Good Girl.” After seven years of marriage, Phil is clueless as to what a woman wants."Now that you're with me, you're mysterious, and dark, and twisted," Holden tells her and she is grateful. "I like having a secret," she says, before the lies start piling up and events become too exciting for her tastes.
Holden is not the cad that Emma Bovary's Rodolphe turns out to be. He's merely a lonely man-child whose passions and tantrums undermine Justine's sense of right and wrong.
Aniston, who prepared for the role by wearing weights to contain her buoyant demeanor, manages to keep her Rachel-isms to a minimum. A more accomplished actress would probably allow more anguish to escape Justine's blank mask. But that wouldn't be keeping it real. Like most people, Justine just gets swept along by events without feeling particularly conflicted, and remorseful only in a self-preservation sense.
The beauty in casting Aniston is her everywoman appeal. Even when Justine's acts are wrongheaded, one resists the urge to reach out and strangle her. Instead, like watching a friend in a poor relationship, you just want what's best for her. You want her to be happy.
Viewers can't help but confront their own demons as the filmmakers put forth the tantalizing question: "Is this your last chance? Are you gonna take it or are you gonna go to your grave with unlived lives in your veins?"
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