Product Description

Jennifer Aniston turns in "a fantastic performance" (Us Weekly) in this quirky comedy about first encounters and second chances. Thirty-year-old Justine Last (Aniston) longs for a life more fulfilling than the one she leads with her boring husband (John C. Reilly) and dead-end job a the Retail Rodeo. But when a passionate young co-worker (Jake Gyllenhaal) catches her eye and steals her heart, Justine's good-girl existences takes a turn for the worse- with unexpected and comical results.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15138 in DVD
• Brand: TCFHE
• Released on: 2003-01-07
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.com
Jennifer Aniston gives a career-changing performance in The Good Girl, a movie that questions whether goodness is a virtue or a trap. Justine (Aniston), weary of her dead-end retail job and her childless marriage to Phil (John C. Reilly), diverts herself with a new coworker named Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal), who feels as ill-treated by his life as Justine does with hers. The empathy between them leads, all too quickly, to an affair--which just as quickly turns into an obsession that threatens to destroy Justine's marriage. But this is only the beginning; Phil's buddy Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson), the store security guard (Mike White), and a handful of other characters all have a part to play in the unraveling of Justine's life. The script and performances of The Good Girl are subtle but vivid, and the movie's emotional impact will linger long after the movie is over. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker
A comedy, darkly told, with a plot that never fails to attract: is there a way out of my narrow life? Jennifer Aniston puts on a Texas accent and plays Justine Last, a clerk at a faceless superstore, which seems to be the new epicenter of modern angst. Her co-workers include a sarcastic goth girl (Zooey Deschanel), a hyper-Christian security guard (Mike White), and a hunky, teen-age malcontent (Jake Gyllenhaal) who oh-so-subtly calls himself Holden. Soon, Justine and Holden are discovering the pleasures of the stockroom together. The movie is well acted and very funny about delusions, especially the writerly kind. It also complicates our loyalties by making Justine's husband (John C. Reilly) a decent, likable guy, even if he does smoke too much pot. Everything seems poised for a great finale, with the melancholic afterglow of a good Raymond Carver story. But the movie loses its tone-tragic moments, including a suicide, get treated in a flimsy way, and camp triumphs over content. The soundtrack, headlined by the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane," is a pleasure. Directed by Miguel Arteta, and written by Mike White. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Sleeping Giant of a Film
With very little in the way of pre-publicity, THE GOOD GIRL crept into limited release and is only now being disseminated into some more mainstream theaters. There seems to be a trend here in putting the really superb, message films in the small theaters and letting word of mouth propel them into the public eye. And perhaps this technique underlines the importance of these small films - no ballyhoo, just concentrated fine work speaking for itself.

THE GOOD GIRL is a well written, well directed strange story that adresses the Kafkaesque microcosms we all create. The setting is basically in and around a Rodeo Retail store in a small Texas town, that kind of claustrophobic place where everyone seems 'just fine' on the surface but within the shell is a lonely, borderline personality waiting to escape. The story concentrates on one character's (Justine) attempt to find something better in life, but the consequences of that decision bleed into the lives of everyone in this samll town.

When the list for Oscar nominees begins to form, surely Jennifer Aniston's name will be at the top. Her performance is so well crafted and nuanced that despite her character's failings she maintains our empathy. This is a superb character role that deserves the highest kudos. The supporting cast is equally exceptional; Zooey Deschanel creates a zany, bizarre, hilarious yet real person (a bid for Best Supporting Actress),and John C. Reilly, Tim Blake Nelson, Mike White and Jake Gyllenhaal all are born to their roles. The director, Michael Arteta, makes the most of these gifted actors and creates an ensemble performance that stays in your mind long after the movie credits are over. This little gem of a film is bound to appeal to everyone who can transpose the atmosphere here created into the variations of despair we all create and cope with. A superb movie, this.

Brilliant acting elevates weak plot
Justine is depressed. She hates her job at the Retail Rodeo, she comes home everyday to find her husband smoking pot and watching TV with his loser friend, her life is going nowhere. That is, until she meets Holden. Holden and Justine have something in common, they both hate their lives. For awhile, Justine and Holden seem to be in love and everything is great. It's not too long, however before things start going sour.

Jennifer Aniston is nothing short of spectacular in this role. I went to see this thinking I'd have trouble believing "Rachel" from Friends as a depressed loser. Surprisingly, I left the theater wondering if I'd believe that this depressed loser could also be "Rachel". That's how incredibly transformed Jennifer Aniston is. I can't remember her even smiling in this. Jake Gyllenhaal is also terrific as Holden. I also love the one female employee (I can't remember her name) who makes those hilarious announcements over the store's PA. In fact, the whole cast is consistantly brilliant.
The flaw in this film is the script. Don't get me wrong, it's written extremely well. It is never cliched, never predictable, nothing like that. The problem is there isn't enough plot, if you know what I mean. The movie is great for the first 40 minutes, but then you start to wonder if it's building up to anything at all. The conclusion is satisfactory, but overall this could have been better if given a quick rewrite.

Anyway, despite the plot that could've used a bit more story, this movie is more than worth the time and money. Jennifer's performance is EASILY worth a best actress statue, but I seriously doubt that, given all the other great movies this year, this movie will be recognized by the Academy.

Leaves you not knowing what to think
Jennifer Aniston does a surprisingly good job at portraying Justine, the fed-up Retail Rodeo employee who begins an elicit affair with Holden, a co-worker 8 years her junior. I find it funny that one of the reviewers thought of this movie as a "comedy". The dialogue is humorous at times, but I think this story has a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Justine sees her life as a prison, as does Holden. He swings open the door of curiosity in her life that makes her wonder if there's more for her in the world. Yet, the "good girl" mentality she holds throughout the movie obligates her to deny her feelings for Holden and stick with her pot-smoking, impotent husband.

As you watch, you at first root for Holden and Justine. You want them to escape their small town and find out what life holds for them. Then you start feeling like that isn't right either; Holden is, after all, only 22...and a depressed, rather mentally disturbed 22 at that. Justine sees in him a possibility, but still a bleak possibility.

This leads to a battle of motivations: do you stick with the life you are familiar with and is socially acceptable, even if you're depressed out of your mind, or do you escape into a life more exciting that could very well be as bad or even worse? This is what makes me not know what to think. Justine obviously has personal issues she needs to work out, but she sees her answers in other people and not in herself. This makes her a sympathetic character, but you hate her all at the same time.

The story is very well-conceived, and the actors do a marvelous job portraying Justine's equally-dysfunctional co-workers, family, and friends.

The deleted scenes on the DVD are funny, and some would have been helpful to explain some of the progression in the story. However, the movie is mysteriously captivating on its own, and I think Aniston should be recognized for this gross departure from her flaky counterpart on "Friends".