Rating: 
Summary: "THE AVERAGE GIRL"
Review: Your everyday gal is good right? Jennifer Aniston plays an average girl and provides an explaination to what is good... Your typical everyday woman who doesn't always make the right choices, who says yes to fornication and no to deadly blackberries. Caught up in life as an employee of the "Retail Rodeo" Justine (Aniston) meets Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal), a younger guy who has issues with depression and believes that himself and Justine are perfect for one another. Despite that she is married to Phil (John C. Reilly). Their relationship starts off like they are the only two on earth, when she gets paranoid that they'll be discovered she begins to think it's all a mistake, which leaves Holden more depressed than ever. This is all after Holden witnesses Justine having sex with her husbands best friend, only because her husbands best friend blackmales her for sleeping with Holden. It's the two wrongs making a right thats wrong. Anyway "The Good Girl" is a movie that you don't wanna relate to the characters but you know you do in many ways. O.k. comedy or drama? Both, more drama than comedy though. Life is to comedic to be tragic and to tragic to be comedic. And thats a good way to discribe this wonderfully offbeat movie. Good performances from Aniston and Gyllenhaal help the film tremendously.
Rating: 
Summary: What's so good about her?
Review: After hearing reviews of Jennifer Aniston's(the not so good "good girl")most recent cinematic achievement, I was interested. I had no idea of the intensity, the raw reality of it, and that Mike White, a scriptwriter in need of serious psychotherapy, had written it. The story is about the miserable Justine(Aniston), unhappily married to Pothead Phil(John C. Reilly), and very soon to be adultress with Holden(Jake Gyllenhaal).
Justine works at the Retail Rodeo at the make up counter. An odd ensemble of characters works there, and it is where she meets Holden. Both caught up in their miserable lives, they
"Get each other".
Once Justine wants the breaks put on it all, is where things really start to get weird. Holden becomes obsessive about Justine. She isn't sure what she wants out of life, and she isn't sure who Holden really is much less herself.
Life for our "good girl" just keeps getting weirder and weirder, and the more I watched Justine and her reactions to the bizarre situations that arise, the more I kept thinking, this is not a good person. Just what is Mike White trying to prove here? That a very dishonest woman who cheats on her husband is good. If that's good, I would hate to see his version of bad.
I know I know, I could've shut it off. But I was intrigued. and I was blown away at the acting of Aniston, Reilly, and Gyllenhaal. They were all brilliant and really gave their all to these oddball characters. Do I recommend this movie? If you like Mike White's body of work maybe. If you can appreciate watching a movie of stark reality(as I know "good girls" like this one) and some of the best acting of the year 2002, this might be a good rental choice.
Rating: 
Summary: potential cult film about choices and escape
Review: I got this film because I really enjoyed Mike White's first script, Chuck and Buck, but I have to admit I was skeptical about Jennifer Aniston; however, the script was as good as I'd hoped and Aniston did a wonderful job as Justine, a bored clerk at Retail Rodeo and the childless wife of stoned housepainter Phil (John C. Reilly). She even wears horrible clothes! Aniston's voiceover is very good, and adds to the story, and the cast is flawless, from Phil's friend Bubba and Jake Gyllenhall's Holden/Tom to all the interesting characters at Retail Rodeo. The subplot of the store's cosmetic makeovers is also very funny. There are some great visuals here, incuding an overhead shot of employees pouring out of the store to grieve a coworker. I think this film is similar to About Schmidt but with some crucial differences. While Schmidt has been detached from his family and is trying to connect again, Justine has been bled dry by her boring work and her marriage and her friends, and she seeks instead to detach herself -- if only she had the energy to do something desperate! Then she meets a new employee, Holden, an attractive but troubled young guy who brings her excitement and joy -- for a while. As Justine realizes that other people know about her indiscretion, she sees that what was once fun has become complicated and tawdry. MILD SPOILER: In one incredible series of scenes, Justine makes love to Holden, then is blackmailed by Bubba into having sex with him (the look on her face while she waits for him to finish is wonderful), and then she has to let Phil hold her breast while he masters his domain at a fertility clinic. (These scenes are reminiscent of a funny little movie that come out in 1968 called Candy, in which every guy Candy meets wants to seduce her and uses his own bizarre line/style to get her into bed.) You can watch the film in English or Spanish, and you have the same choices for subtitles. There is a commentary track featuring writer/actor Mike White and director Miguel Arteta as well as 14 minutes of comments by Aniston; 9 deleted scenes totalling about 8 minutes; and a 2-1/2-minute gag reel (including a very brief shot of two unfamiliar young guys sitting on a bed -- anybody know what that is?).
Rating:
Summary: Jennifer Aniston is bored to tears working at Retail Rodeo
Review: "Bruce Almighty" is obviously the movie in which Jennifer Aniston is the leading lady that has made the most money, but it is by no means a Jennifer Aniston film. If she wants to point to something other than "Friends" to show what she can do as an actress then "The Good Girl" is probably going to be her first choice. In this 2002 film from director Miguel Arteta she plays Justine, a 30-year-old clerk who is bored to tears by her job at Retail Rodeo where the only excitement is when Cheryl (Zooey Deschanel) makes one of her "Attention, Shoppers" announcements over the public address system and starts spewing insults and bizarre nonsense. Cheryl is dispatched to doing makeovers for women customers (whatever is management thinking?), while Justine notices Holden (Jake Cyllenhaal), the new kid at the store who is reading "The Catcher in the Rye" and who dispenses its wisdom to his new friend. Holden's name is really Tom, which makes his ranks about hypocrisy rather ironic, but clearly he is the first breeze of any kind in Justine's life in a long, long time. Whatever his name, a college dropout sure beats what is waiting for her at home. Justine is married to Phil (John C. Reilly), who paints houses and always wishes it was raining so he can keep watching television. Justine would like it if he bothered to fix the television set and to have himself tested to see if he is the reason they have not had a child. Phil spends more time with his best buddy, Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson). During the day they paint houses and during the night they smoke weed and watch the tube. Bubba thinks of Justine as the ideal woman and having turned his back on ever having a relationship of his own with a woman vicariously enjoys the happy marriage of his best friend. No wonder Justine falls pretty to Holden's advances and their first tryst at a fleabag motel turns into grabbing every possible opportunity to do it again. Unfortunately, the amorous couple are seen and in an escalating series of events we wonder how high of a price Justine is going to have to pay.
"The Good Girl" does not represent so much the dark side of Jennifer Aniston as it does the sad side. You know that in every small town in America there is a girl with looks but without ambition who parlays her attractiveness into marrying a local stud who would never get out of that town alive. Actually, none of this background is mentioned in the film, but it makes sense that Phil must have done something in the past to get a girl like Justine. What is important in this film is that whatever he had and whatever he offered Justine it is long gone. This is a marriage that has no reason to exist beyond the fact that it does, which helps explain the resolution of this film as much as anything. The performance by the four principles are solid enough, and the supporting cast offers a variety of eccentrics that flesh out this particular seedy little town. "The Good Girl" is as much a character study as anything else and whatever its limitations finds a large measure of redemption in the final scene between husband and wife.
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed Blessings
Review: Sometimes a film can have a performance in it that is so good, and yet in the end you find yourself asking, `What's the Point?' That's the way I felt sitting through Michael Arteta's (Star Maps) THE GOOD GIRL, a film with one great character and many unrealized ones. Jennifer Aniston (Picture Perfect) plays Justine, a clerk at a local Wal-Mart type store somewhere in west bumblefreak Texas. It's a small town where everybody knows your name, and more than likely everybody knows what your up too. When Justine begins to have an affair with a local boy named Holden (Jake Gyllenhal, Donnie Darko) Justine's life begins to unravel. THE GOOD GIRL is a good movie. It has some heart and it has some really good laughs. It is also has a nice small town feel to it. Everything has that lower middle class waffle house look, and of course in any other film I'd expect a satirical look at this world, where all the characters are too big for their britches, but there is enough authenticity here that gives the film a strong visual feel. Jennifer Aniston is wonderful as Justine. It's miles away from anything she's ever done before. This A-List Hollywood actress gets frumpy, without looking out of place. Every one of her character arcs is full and realized and in the end it's a gut wrenching performance without her having to go over the top. There is a tendency in Hollywood films to play every horrible revelation in a melodramatic fashion. This film is full of death, birth, love, and humiliation and everything is understated. This works for the film when they concern the lead character. Those beats are powerful and strong. It's when the subplots of the story branch off into the bizzaro world of the minor characters that I felt the movie lost its credibility. A character dies in the film on a note that felt fake and we soon learn that it was designed to emphasize a joke at the very end of the movie, that isn't very funny. I also didn't appreciated the, I won't tell your husband sex scene that also branched off into a world of stupidity. Much of the problems with those scenes are that while Justine's character is fully realized none of the supporting cast seems to be. Ghyllenhal's Holden has two modes, over-stated and understated and they never quite gel. While he does a good job with his character his moods are motivated not by true character but by plot developments. I wish the screenplay by Mike White (Chuck and Buck) had played with the `Catcher and the Rye' character they kept alluding too. But alas he felt half-realized and that's a shame. Also John C. Rielly (Chicago) and Tim Blake Nelson's (Oh Brother Where Art Thou) Bubba and Phil are also half realized. Two characters whom you wanted so much more from than sperm problems and silly infatuations. I really wanted to know more how these guys ticked, but alas most of what they gave back was underwhelming. My final beef with the film is it's unbearably slow, and the end is kind of a let down. There's a perfect moment where Justine is at a crossroads it's a really great climax, and when she makes that final decision and the film goes on for 15 more minutes. Why? To try to tie thins up. I wished they had left them dangling. Yes I have may problems with the Good Girl but I still think it's a good film, if anything to prove Jennifer Aniston could have a career past FRIENDS. Let hope she keeps making films like these. But she probably won't.
Rating:
Summary: Not just a good girl but a good actress too!
Review: With this film, Jennifer Aniston shows her fans than she can do more than the bubbly cute Rachel Greene from "Friends"---a role that has made her famous. She did a nice turn in "The Object of My Affection" a few years back but she does better with Justine, a young woman living a miserable existence, suddenly tempted with decisions that will test her willingness to stay in the humdrum world she seems imprisoned in. Her painter husband, played by John C. Reilly---the hardest working man in show biz, is a stoner. Her job at the local Retail Rodeo discount store provides nothing interesting in her life until a young loner, named Holdeman is hired as a cashier(Jake Gyllenhal). Justine, after becoming acquainted with him, begins an affair that will have her questioning which direction her life will be taking. Will she take a wild ride with a young, unstable lover and leave her boring world behind or stay in the relationship that leaves her wanting more? Anniston does a good job in this role and proves that she deserves more movie roles. The supporting players do well in their roles, as well, complimenting Aniston's performance. This is a film that really makes you think about decisions you make in your life and how each choice can give you such different outcomes. Worth seeing.
Rating: 
Summary: bad
Review: i found this movie to be quite pointless. it was also boring without a meaning to what was ocurring.although i love jennifer aniston in "friends", i think she made a horrible performance in this movie.
Rating:
Summary: This movie seems caught between two ideas...
Review: I don't know if I just missed it between the rather disgusting sex scenes, but I didn't catch the theme of this story. I really liked the acting - Jake Gylenhaal is proving himself to be a big new talent, Jennifer Aniston was great as always, and John C. Riley turned up a fantastic supporting role with next to nothing script-wise. However, I didn't really get if this was supposed to be a movie about corruption or redemption. The whole beginning of the movie seems to suggest the former, but the ending doesn't fit with that. In the end, Justine's voice over (which may have been the best part of the movie)declared that she had two choices to make. It was never really clarified why she made the one she did. In any case, the plot of this movie would have led to two or even one star (the many times lackluster dialogue and unclear theme were a little too much for me), the great acting turned in by Gylenhaal (Who was intense and a little creepy), Riley (who turned his dope addicted character into a very sympathetic one), and, yes, Aniston (who did a very good job, but not great) brought this movie up out of the gutter to give it three stars. For all the hype, 'The Good Girl' wasn't really very good. If you want to see Gylenhall, Aniston, and Riley in separate, good movies, try 'Donnie Darko', 'The Object of My Affection', or 'Chicago'. 'The Good Girl' tries to be deep, but it only scrapes the surface. Worth a rent, but don't waste your money on the tape.
Rating:
Summary: A great independent movie
Review: Before watching The Good Girl all that I had heard of it was that Jennifer Aniston was very good in the role. In fact there's a lot more to it than that. The movie concerns a bored 30 year-old woman Justine (Aniston) who begins to wonder whether her life could take a more exiciting turn than her dull life with her husband after meeting young co-worker Holden. Rapidly beginning a passionate affair with him Justine suddenly discovers that passion and excitement can be found even in the most hopeless of places. What makes the film special really though is the fact that The Good Girl doesn't fulfill the audience's dream. If Justine had run away from her yobbish husband and found happiness with a younger lover it would have been a beautifully evoked yet still simplistic story. As it is each character has their own complexities and in the end it is the question over whether passion and excitement are mere pipe dreams or whether there are some people who are just content to give up on them is driven home so subtly yet resolutely by the end that you cannot help but identify with such realistic characters that have no idea as to the answers just as the audience doesn't. The acting, just as hyped, is sublime. Aniston sheds Rachel of Friends forever and proves once and for all that if one of the cast has a chance of making it big in the movies then it's her. Her endearing nature and ability to act like a down-to-earth shop assistant and really make you believe that underneath it all she harbors the same disappointments and regrets as everyone else is extraordinary. Aniston's performance is superbly supported by Jake Gyllenhaal (who made such a fascinating breakthrough in Donnie Darko), who plays the young co-worker who offers Justine an opportunity to escape. For those who might have worried that he would be unable to put in anything but a darkly intense performance as he did in Donnie Darko, he lightens up significantly in his love of Justine. He, just like Aniston, is though equally able to play two sides to the persona, as his obsessive nature gradually takes over his love. For Magnolia fans there's also a gentle turn from the increasingly popular John C. Reilly. This makes it the kind of cast that any well-versed movie fan will relish. Whilst it's true that The Good Girl may not be as humorous as it has been deemed, it is nonetheless one of the most impressive movies to have been released during the past year. Its complexities and involved character interrelations in addition to a script that fails to pander to an audience that may want an easy resolution ensure that it will stand out as one of the forerunners in an indie scene that is becoming evermore popular.
Rating:
Summary: "The Good Girl" lacks integrity
Review: I am sorry to say that I was very disappointed in this movie. Although Jennifer Aniston does a great job of stepping out of her "Friends" image, she should have done it in a movie with more integrity. A film that should have been about love, loyalty, and desire for something more than the odinary, turned into one completely about sex. With so much potential and honest acting, it is a shame that "The Good Girl" turned out the way it did. I wish I could recommend this movie, but the crudeness of it outweighs all of its positive aspects.So much sex and drug content is a sign of a weak director, who must rely on sexual content instead of the beauty of the story.
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