Range is not something you expect that much of from creative types. Actors, well, that’s a little different but writers, directors, musicians, even painters generally stay within a certain zone and when you find someone capable of reaching beyond the normal boundaries, that’s quite a pleasant surprise. Kind of like Wynton Marsalis, reaching out from his jazz exploits, where he was from a young age considered one of the greats, to produce some outstanding classical compositions as well.
Perhaps The Good Girl and School of Rock don’t quite put scriptwriter Mike White at that level yet but throw in his Chuck & Buck and you’ve got a pretty good start for someone well shy of 35. The movies are so different that I didn’t realize the connection until well in Good Girl, a drama that has nothing to do with music but in a certain light is the flipside of Jack Black’s epiphany in Rock.
Jennifer Aniston(!) is Justine, a worn-down wife to John C. Reilly’s Phil, working at a sad little discount store in a strip mall in nowhere Texas, 30 years old, no children, a stoner husband and no view to a future. Aniston plays Justine as if all the air had been squeezed out of her body, slumped, totally out of energy. She shows up at work just to get a paycheck, something her cosmetics counter supervisor (Deborah Rush) points out a couple of times. Then she notices a cute, younger new cashier, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who seems as weary as her and when he explains that he’s taken the name Holden (as in Catcher of the Rye’s Caulfield), she’s interested.
Gyllenhaal’s Holden is able to verbalize Justine’s feelings, recognizing a kindred spirit, and he can’t help noticing she’s the hottest female in 30 miles. So he quickly falls for her and Justine falls for the bait. Admittedly, though no real nudity can be seen, the one sexual romp the two have in a cheap motel room is very hot. And with their passion, the pair attempt to burn away the ennui, to find a connection that might bring some light into their dreary lives. Director Miguel Arteta furthers this feeling by setting the movie in winter, with few blue skies but lots of rain and snow on the ground.
Hollywood allows dramas to not end happily, and we don’t get to turn off the TV with Justine and Holden happily ensconced in a cozy apartment together in San Diego, even though the couple does consider running away as an option. Though The Good Girl is major studio-influenced enough to tie down all the loose ends, use up all the foreshadowings and leave the audience satisfied that the title is true rather than ironic.
Recommended
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