Just a glimpse at a typical scene reveals such thoughts. As Aniston’s character sits in bed with her husband Phil (John C. Reilly), she looks like … Jennifer Aniston complaining about the TV not working. You’ve got the million dollar contracts, “Rachel,” get a new one! The only question becomes when Joey will make a joke about it.
Reilly, on the other hand, melts into his character and exudes the sort of dumb charm that could land the pretty girl who settles down. We would believe these two would marry, if only Aniston’s character could believably marry a pot-smoking painter with a friend named Bubba. Even in Texas where everything’s bigger, this is a stretch.
The set-up treads ground everyone wants to be covered, but the plot gives us the headaches like a pale fluorescent bulb. In order for the ending to work (Aniston sees the possibilities of a boundless future, is scared, heads back to the “warmth” of a loser husband and a worthless job knowing nothing will change) we must believe that the Rodeo Roundup is at least an option. Sure, Jake Gyllenhaal’s character is not the finest apple on the tree, but his immaturity and angst at least offer an emotion - it’s clear in Justine’s work that’s a rarity.
So is The Good Girl just a big ol’ middle finger to Wordsworth’s “better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” line of thinking? Are there that many people, when faced with an opportunity for a life reborn, cower in fear and retreat to the normal and mundane? A romantic movie would give us the right hand turn into a new life. This move gives us the left hand turn and a suicide. A great movie would have driven straight ahead. Neither man was best, as one capitalized on her need for normalcy and the other on her disdain for the world. True happiness could not be found in either man, but within. That The Good Girl never considers such a need creates an eerie, hollow feeling. It’s a movie you can’t watch more than once, because you’d be so disappointed with Aniston’s character from the get-go. A pretty face and a clingy typecast can’t change the fact that this artists wanted a statement, no matter the error in character judgment. |
