GOOD GIRL, THE
Released: August 7, 2002
Life for 30-year-old Justine (Jennifer Aniston) is the Retail Rodeo, a roadside chain department store in a small West Texas town. Where boredom runs amok, it's no wonder that Justine sets her sights on new staff member Holden (his real name is Tom but he's on a "Catcher In The Rye" bender). He's played by Jake Gyllenhaal to great effect. This would not be seen as a dangerous use of Justine's spare time if it weren't for her husband of eight years, Phil (John C. Reilly). Add in his suspicious friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson) and you've got a powderkeg just waiting to explode. Director Miguel Arteta fashions a story in an almost documentary realism. You really feel the despair and lonliness of the characters. Like Arteta's earlier movie ("Chuck&Buck" 2000), he paints his cimematic canvas with characters with depth that you care about. He succeeds by casting some of the best actors in the biz. Aniston deflates her "Friends" persona entirely and makes her Justine character so fully realised you forget all about Rachel Green. Her co-stars are all amazing including the support players. Justine's co-workers are played to the full effect of what Retail Rodeo must be like. The upbeat cosmetics sales clerk, Gwen (Deborah Rush); nerdy, super-religious security guard Corny (Mike White), who is forever trying to get her to attend Wednesday evening Bible study; The rotund store manager (John Carroll Lynch) is a master of Hallmark sentimentalities; and Cheryl (Zooey Deschanel), who taunts the sleepy customers on the store's PA system announcements. Deschanel, one of my favorite new actresses (with her luminous and captivating eyes), wowed me in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" (2000). I believe we'll see her on the big screen a lot more in the coming years. These characters are real because they are written with great respect to them (never condescendingly) by Mike White, the actor playing Corny the security guard. Jennifer Aniston has made the wisest movie choices of all her "Friends" co-stars and movies like "Office Space", "Rock Star" and "The Good Girl" prove she won't be scrambling for good parts once her sitcom series leaves the schedule.
93 Minutes
Fox Searchlight/Fox