The Good Guy

Movie review by
S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media
The Good Guy Movie Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 16+
(i)
High-reaching adult drama with lots of language, drinking.
  • R
  • 2010
  • 90 minutes
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Parents say

age 17+
Based on 3 reviews

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The Good Guy

A lot or a little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

Positive Messages

Though not all male characters come off as players, most are, and the message appears to be to steer clear of them unless someone is obviously not a user. Not a bad message, but certainly a simplistic one. Guys aren't all looking to add to the notches on the proverbial bed posts, and women aren't all longing for boyfriends, but in this movie, that's how they come off.

Positive Role Models & Representations

The main female character is sweet and kind, but she's played for a fool. Most of the other female characters are portrayed as bitter and lonely, frustrated by the guys they date. They do rally around female friends who've been wronged, however. Except for one lead character and another supporting character, the men are chauvinistic and boorish, and relish scoring women for sport. The exceptions, however, are exact opposites, full of heart and good intentions (though they come off as one-note).

Violence

A man punches a friend, who doesn't hit back.

Sex

More raunchy talk than action. A couple has sex for the first time, and there's no nudity, but discussion about putting on a condom. Men trawl bars for women to approach and pick them apart based on appearance, and one character, who appears to have a knack for juggling many girlfriends, flirts with another while his date sits right across from him. One character hires a prositute for sex.

Language

Loaded with swearing, including "bitch," "s--t," and "f--k," which one character utters numerous times within the first 10 minutes of the film.

Consumerism

Labels for beer and iPhone are visible. Microsoft and other stocks, plus Banana Republic is name-dropped.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Lots of social drinking -- beer, shots of tequila -- and sometimes to the point of inebriation. In one scene, drugs in vials -- ecstasy, Viagra, Xanax -- fall out of a pinata.

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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this tepid drama, which has promise but doesn't make good on it, will likely attract teen fans of lead actress Alexis Bledel (of Gilmore Girls fame), but its mature themes are better saved for older teens and adults. There's little nudity, but heaps of swearing and drinking and, worse, many characters who reek of chauvinism. Both men and women, in fact, are stereotyped to a certain degree; most stock traders are portrayed as scheming users and the women, easily fooled and much too preoccupied with being coupled, or bitterly disappointed.

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User Reviews

  • Parents say
  • Kids say
Adult Written bywonder dove July 24, 2010
age 16+

Pleasantly Surprised...

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I found it to be very entertaining and a fun flick to watch with some light comedy. The storyline was good and the act... Continue reading
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Adult Written byazadali March 13, 2010
age 17+
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What's the story?

Beth (Alexis Bledel), appears to have found a good guy. Tommy (Scott Porter), a successful stock broker, is patient and soulful, prone to sweet gestures when she's felled by a hard day. A job transfer from Manhattan to San Francisco beckons, but she's not sure what her next move should be. Her decision is cemented by her burgeoning friendship with Daniel (Bryan Greenberg), a nerdy, bookish protege of Tommy's who can't seem to get in with the masters of the universe at work, but is comfortable among Beth's book-group friends. It's a complication that only becomes obvious when she starts to question who Tommy really is, and what Daniel's true intentions are.

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Is it any good?

This movie is certainly ambitious, but as many Manhattanites will attest, ambition will only go so far. There's this about THE GOOD GUY: As writer-director Julio Depietro's debut, it's an assured foray, styled just so and peppered with all the right elements for a film about twentysomething Manhattanites defining themselves at work and in love. The trading pit patois is spot-on, no surprise given Depietro's experience working at an investment firm. Despite this, the film's unexceptional. For starters, the characters are rote: Tommy's co-workers are fratty traders who play sadistic games and down shots after shots in bars filled with hot women. Bledel plays the prototypical sweet girl (her only role lately, it seems); her girlfriends are all turned off by the dating scene. Greenberg's character, Daniel, has no trajectory; he begins and ends in the same spot. And Andrew McCarthy makes a swaggering, foul-mouthed appearance as a boss, but it's all for show.

As for Tommy, though he's slightly better written, he's still transparent. Why bother to plumb the depths when one can already predict what's underneath? More problematic is the tone: Is the film a romance? A rebuke of Wall Street? A sinister treatise on dating? All of the above? Perhaps none: Its versions of all these options are wan and superficial.

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Talk to your kids about ...

  • Families can talk about Tommy and how he changes over time? Is it an actual, gradual change, or was his true personality there all along? Who exactly is the good guy in this movie?

  • On Tommy's workplace: Do you think that's really how stock traders all behave? Are they often portrayed in this manner? Why? Is it fair to be displayed in this light? What did you think about all the drinking they do?

  • Why would Daniel want to be a trader in the first place? Why would Tommy take him under his wing? Does this plot point make sense?

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Movie details

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