betty dalton "Good Girl" is a dark, but lighthearted story at the same time. Not suited for the masses, who want to see a straight comedy. Don't expect a cheery Jennifer Aniston movie, this is heavy stuff, although the acting is THAT good that it often puts a smile on my face. Those 2 extremes, funny but dark, in one and the same movie, are difficult to explain to people. You either understand or like this sort of subtle dark humor or you dont. If you liked Friends and expect something similar, stay away from this movie though. It is not straight forward funny. It is funny in a crooked, depressed way.What's the story about? Jennifer Anniston is supposed to be a "good" girl, but she unintentionally creates havoc and misery all around her. Jennifer Anniston plays a cashier at a small supermarket in a dead end town. Her life is going nowhere. Married, but without any enjoyable sex life and without children. Jennifer is depressed. Enter Jake Gyllenhaal as a new employee at the supermarket who sets Jennifers love life on fire. Jake Gyllenhaal starts to cling on to Jennifer. He sees in her his only true love. But Jennifer is just playing with the guy, with terrible consequences. How terrible? Well that is the brilliance of this magnificent story. Cant reveal the spoilers here. Mike White is the writer of this gem. He also plays a funny cameo role as a dorky surveillance employee at the supermarket. Seen it many times now. And at first viewing I regarded it more as a comedy, but during this latest viewing I looked at it more as a drama, although a lighthearted one. If you like the Coen Brothers' dry "humor" then you will be able to appreciate this tragicomedy as well.Special praise for one of the first roles of Zooey Deschanel. She really is hilarious. And so are the other supporting actors. This is really an actor's movie, because it is very difficult to find a balance between acting depressed and being funny. The actors DO pull it off though. Praise. They act true to life, but their characters have just enough exageration to make their ordinary daily struggles comical.Trivia Endnote: There is a theme of depression which runs through this story. It cant be accidental that several songs by Nick Drake are featured in the soundtrack. Because Nick Drake was a singer songwriter who was also suffering from depression. He committed suicide at a very young age of 26. He left several classic records behind, that are cherished by an ever growing fanbase. According to Rolling Stone all of his records deserve a place in the best 500 records ever made.

merelyaninnuendo The Good GirlPitching it up for around 90 minutes; the track is short and the pace is on, resulting onto an entertaining experience but is it satisfying? Well that's a question one will take it to its grave for there is too much going on to digest and accept even if it is barred within logic and genuine reasoning. Miguel Arteta doesn't quite gets the depiction right which leads to the most confused experience ever for on the other hand Mike White's screenplay is fast and gripping. On performance level, there isn't much to complaint from Jennifer Aniston, John C. Reilly and Jake Gyllenhaal but there surely isn't anything inspiring or impressive too. The Good Girl lacks a character development and a better projection of it and due to this the reasoning; no matter how much circumstantial and concrete, the feature just doesn't fit for it doesn't help connecting the audience to them.

noonoonomore Wow!!!!! I'm shocked to see people calling "Cake" her only good and Oscar worthy performance.This movie was beautiful. Jake Gyllenhaal was very good as well. I read "The Catcher in the Rye" before watching this movie in order to be able to absolutely feel it, for I am an Aniston fan and also read some good reviews about this movie; and man that was a good decision. Any of us would feel separated from the world and everyone close to us from time to time; I guess Justine was one of us. An ordinary person with an ordinary boredom of life, so when she met Holden, well he was right for that short time, before she got pregnant and felt kinda alright again like many of us do, when slight changes happens in our lives. Holden, on the other hand, I don't think he would have ever been happy even if she had left with him and eventually all that anger and loneliness would have burst out one way or the other.Now Jennifer did a swell job here, and I know this movie came out when she was still doing Friends alongside loads and loads of romantic comedies, so it's even more underrated and especially when Renée Zellweger got so much attention for that not-so-bright comedy "Bridget Jones".Approach this with cautious, this is Not a typical Aniston comedy. Heck it's not even a comedy, just pitch black.

dragonfly6160 I am not a huge Jennifer Aniston fan, but she does great work in "The Good Girl." Without a word of dialogue, Ms. Aniston as Justine Last communicates the despair of a woman trapped in a boring marriage, employed at a dead-end job at a Walmart-like store in a nothing small town.For a time, Justine rebels against her life "Of Quiet Desperation" and starts a reckless affair with Jake Gyllenhaal's character Holden Worther.Justine is on the verge of escape,but in the end chooses stability over rebellion, because she is after all "The Good Girl."