 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The Good Girl
- Review Date: July 24, 2005
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 2002
Common Sense Media says
Story of love and frustration isn't for kids.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this film deals with potentially upsetting issues such as mental illness and infidelity in an understated manner. Strong language is used throughout the film, and there are several scenes depicting sex without frontal nudity. Alcohol and drug abuse (pot) are depicted. There is a scene of coerced sex that verges on rape, and two offscreen deaths, one by suicide.
What's the story?
THE GOOD GIRL is a mature story about love and frustration with special appeal for fans (teenage and adult) of Jennifer Aniston. In a suburban Texas town, Justine (Anniston) works at the local Retail Rodeo. Her job is a bore, and her jerk of a husband (John C. Reilly) spends every afternoon stoned on the couch with his buddy (Tim Blake Nelson). Alienated from everyone, Justine thinks she's found a soulmate in Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal), the sulky new cashier at the Rodeo. He's really a writer, and he's named after the main character in Catcher in the Rye, and nobody understands him. That he's only 22 to Justine's 30 makes him all the more forbidden fruit, and they quickly start a torrid affair. But Justine has much more to lose than Holden, and as he becomes more and more needy, Justine finds herself forced to choose between her new love and the everyday life she finds slipping away.
Is it any good?
The Good Girl has both funny and touching moments; all the actors give very sharp performances with great dialogue, but the plot fails slightly at the end. If this movie is a parable about how the absolute, black and white beliefs of youth give way to mature compromise, the story itself should never just fade to an unsatisfying "realistic" gray.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about Justine's decision at the end of the film, and how it might affect her life in the future.
The title of the film is both serious and ironic -- in what ways is Justine
a good girl, and how does she balance her desires with the good of the
people around her?What made Holden so attractive to Justine at the beginning, and how did this make him "a demon" by the end?
Although Christianity plays a relatively small role in the story,
parents with strong faith will want to talk about the issues of
forgiveness and coercion explicitly brought up by the film. What's the
difference between professing a faith and adhering to it?
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AGE
The horrible, awful, disgusting bad girl
I can't believe I didn't turn and run from this one. Nothing good to say, depressing, dark, completely immoral. PLEASE do not see this film!
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| Studio: | Twentieth Century Fox |
| Director: | Miguel Arteta |
| Cast: | Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Aniston, John C. Reilly |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 94 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | January 1, 2002 |
| DVD release date: | January 7, 2003 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | sexuality, some language, and drug content. |
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