The Good Girl (2002)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

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:

Discount Store | Burglary | Masturbation | Thief | House Painter

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

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Ireland:18 (re-rating) | 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 film was shot in 33 days, often with six scenes being shot a day.

Goofs:

Continuity: While in bed at the hotel Holden's hand jumps on/off Justine's shoulder between shots.

Quotes:

Gwen Jackson: Happy Halloween, Corny!
Corny: Oh... I'm not a pagan, but thanks all the same.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Soundtrack:

Missed Kiss

A Deep and Dramatic Story About Frustration in Life With Touches of Black Humor

Justine (the gorgeous Jennifer Aniston) is a thirty years old, frustrated and married woman, bored with her monotonous life. She works as a clerk in a supermarket, and none of her dreams has come through. She quit schooling just before going to the college, she got married very young, she got trapped in a small town in a job without any perspective and even her expectation of being mother is not being accomplished. Her husband Phil (John C. Reilly, an excellent and underrated actor) is a house painter, who gets stoned most of the vacant time, as a form of escaping his life, with his colleague and best friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson). Their entertainment is watching a noisy TV at night. One day, Justine meets her new colleague Holden Worther (Jack Gyllenhaal), a strange ex-addicted and drunken guy, who wants to be a writer. Justine feels a type of attraction for him, which grows to a crush, ending in an affair. The cuckold and naive Phil does not suspect of the situation. Then, the screenplay presents many plot points, alternating dramatic situations with a very black humor. This is indeed a deep movie, with very well developed characters. Basically all of them have a sort of frustration in life, like all of us, which is revealed along the story. The black humor is proportioned in doses to relieve the tension in many situations. Jennifer Aniston proves that she is an excellent actress, able to conduct and carry out a dense movie. Many persons just know her work as Rachel in `Friends', and just expect her to perform foolish roles. For them, I suggest for example, to watch `The Object of My Affection'. I am very suspicious to write about Jennifer Aniston, since I am a great fan of her, but she has a great performance in this film. Of course, the supporting actors and actresses and the direction are also superb. It is ridiculous the classification of comedy for such a movie. This type of classification certainly misleads the viewer and affects the evaluation. This is a movie that deserves to be watched more than once. My vote is nine.