*Spoilers*

The Good Girl

Well, what can I possibly say about this film that you probably haven't heard already? Yes. I liked it well enough the first time when it was called Bridges of Madison County. But while its predacessor managed to explore issues of lifestyle alienation and re-awakening, this weak rehash suffers from a miscaste lead, an ingratiatingly expository voice-over, and the lack of subtlty and creativity that should accompany a woman discovering herself in suburban/rural America.

About the highlight of this 2002 release was Zooey Deschanel's turn as a bored make-up assisstant. And the only reason why is because director Arteta didn't take heavy a hand to her and over-analyze her boredom and angst. Something he did do to Ms. Aniston's lead Justine. I could have even handled the ridiculous sting of events and coincidences (her sexual encounter with Bubba and Thomas' accidental viewing of it. Her credit card trail, etc) if it hadn't been for the running narration that left nothing ambiguous and up to the viewer's discretion. Its like Arteta anticipated us being idiots, and literally had to have Justine tell us her exact thoughts at the "crossroad" of her life. A crossroad metaphore by the way, which the previous Bridges had already established, and where Justine's ultimate choice was already so predictable that I find it hard to believe anyone would experience the slightest bit of surprise at which way the wheel turned. Again, we all saw it in 1995.

Ultimately the problem was with the entire film's inability to treat a serious subject in an appropriate tone. It didn't have to be severe and serious as Bridges were...it didn't have to be viciously bitter either. But its turn towards situational humor was noticably wrong. And please...stop explaining everything so explicitly.

Thumb waaaaaaaay down.

-Dolce

Awww.... Really, you didn't like it!? I loved it, thought it was one of the best of 2002. But maybe that's because... I've never seen The Bridge of Madison County. You didn't like Jennifer Aniston in this? This is honestly one of the best performances of the year and was snubbed the Academy for a nomination and what shocked me was how she could do a movie like this when she has done so much... crap. (Besides Friends) The supporting cast is good as well, Reilly does a good job playing Justine's pot addicted husband (though it is quite odd that all the roles I've seen him in were in the role of a... husband) and Jake Gyllenhaal (who I kind of find annoying) is pretty decent. And I thought that the ending where she had to pick her "destiny" was another reason I loved it. Justine chose to do what was right for her, she chose to stay with her husband and raise her baby properly. (I think she knew she was pregnant before that crossroad thing I believe, gah, going blank)

*Big thumb up"

- PE#1

Okay, I will give it to you that Reilly wasokay. That's because no one knew who he was at the time. i'm not saying Aniston is a bad actress, I'm just saying she was a gross miscaste. There was not one part of her body language and look, or her personality in general that leaked one ounce of rural Americana. Did you really buy it? Or did you remember it was Aniston the whole time? C'mon...you know that she felt out of place. No matter how hard she tried. And some of her facial gestures, were just too over the top. That refers back to what i said about the tone being all wrong for the movie.

Okay...about picking her destiny. You know it. You heard the voice-over. Don't you think you could have figured it out with out her having to tell it to you? I think it was insulting of the audiences intelligence that you have to listen to Aniston's voice going "And to my right...I looked up the road and saw...And to my left, I looked down the road and saw...And I knew that I had to...blah blah blah." We get it.

One of the best of 2002 huh? Do tell. What scenes did you really love? And what do you think of what I just said about the final scene?

:wink:

-Dolce

(Gah, I really need to watch it again)

Yeah, it's somewhere in my top 10 of 2002. (Spirited Away, Adaptation, White Oleander, Minority Report, Bowling for Columbine and others are somewhere in there too)
As for Aniston's performance, I can honestly say from what I remembered, I did buy it. There was this sort of thought in my mind that made it feel odd because I've seen her for 10 years on a TV Show but as the movie got on I forgot about that.
I can give you that there are some ridiculous scenes (The Bubba blackmail was just... blah) though.
And I have to say that reading your review... I need to check out The Bridge of Madison County and see the similarities.

What did you think of Jake's performance? I have to say I was bit let down after seeing him in Donnie Darko, where his angst made sense, but was still more vague. Here he just really felt like a stereotypical intense teen...wasn't he even reading Kerouac in the beginning at the register. He was like a walking cliche.

You yourself said you found him annoying. Why so? And what was your favorite Aniston scene since you said you were really convinced of her role. It was different than friends, I'll give you that, she is an okay actress. Was there a scene in particular?

-Dolce

I thought Jake was decent, though I do agree about him being a cliche sort of. One of the reasons I find him annoying is his laugh and just the way he smiles... I know it sounds weird but it annoys me.
I don't really have a favorite Aniston scene, the performance as a whole impressed me.
Another thing I agree one was that I thought Zooey Deschanel was good in her small role, hehe.

So what really won you over? The Story line?

To me, it was still the storngest part of the film, since I didn't think the cinematopgraphy was anything too special, and the soundtrack was immemorable. I guess the way it was shot was okay actually, decause the tone of the film didn't really call for majestic shots or anything. So I take that back, the film's feel was appropriate for it. Still I'm not too to won over. It was the story for you? Was it surprising?

Hence, Back-n-Forth

:wink:

-Dolce

Pretty much, I didn't find the storyline surprising though.
It's not really about the film, but what were you favorites of 2002?

What wasn't about the film? The reason you liked it? Was it because it was an Aniston vehicle? Or just because you thought it was relateable? I'm trying to figure out why this got a big thumbs up and a grouping status with Spirited Away, Adaptation, and Minority Report. The forst two of which, btw, were also on my top ten of that year.

-Dolce

No, I was just asking what your faovirte films of 2002 were.
The Aniston factor isn't the only reason I liked the film but it was one of the big ones. And I guess I can relate to the film, as in choosing decisions that change your life and such.

Top Ten in no particular order:

Spirited Away
Adaptation
Chicago
Gangs of New York
Barbershop
About a Boy
Y Tu Mama Tambien
The Quiet American
Talk to Her
Bourne Identity

These are off the 150 top grossers. I'm not going to go into the smaller ones I saw that year, because it would take me forever to remember and make sure they fell within that year.

-Dolce

But don't you think the decision she made pointedly showed that she was not choosing to change her life? That she, in fact, was just going to do what has previously been constructed as "right" and be a "Good Girl" and put her family above her perosnal ambitions and boredom?

-Dolce

Good list. (Jeers for Gangs of New York though, loathed it. :wink: )

Hm, that's... true. Well, I guess looking in on certain angles on difficult situations/decisions.

And do you think it handled such complexities maturely by resorting to Bubba enoucnters etc? Or do you think it had the added cynicism of something like American Beauty did? Meh, I just think it walked the middle ground in its attempt not to offend anyone.

Are you still holding to your Big thumb's up? Of is it a bit smaller? Or sideways? Or down? Let me know and we'll tally them, along with your final responses and open up the thread.

I am sticking to my thumb waaaaay down.



-Dolce

Yeah, I agree about how some situations were handled.
I still don't know about my Big thumbs up but I'll stick to my thumbs up. Yeah, I'm pretty interested in seeing what others thought of the movie. (Or if no one saw it... hehe)

Final Conclusion on The Good Girl

One thumb up and One big thumb down.

this is a change form the original

One big thumb up and one big thumb down.

*World* Members. We're now opening up this thread to all of your comments about the movie and/or our discussion of the movie. Feel free to post your thoughts.

Have Fun!

-Publicenemy#1 and Dolce

Ahhhhh, I looooooooooooooove this film. And I think your top 10 of 2002 is great, dolcevita...minus Gangs of new York...yuck.

It's my second favorite movie of 2002 actually...it's in there with The Hours (which many people criticized for not going deep enough into their depression and the cause for it...I think it was self-explanatory, but...) Far From Heaven, About a Boy, Chicago, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and others.

The acting was superb. Zooey Desachanel was very good in her small role, I agree. Jennifer Aniston...it was, IMO, the biggest snub of 2002. SHe was completely deserving of an Academy Award (nomination). Not for a second did I think of Aniston, or, more importantly Rachel. I don't know what else can be said about her performance...she was 100% beliavable.

It's also a hilarious movie. Granted you feel guilty about finding ssome situations so funny given the context of the humor, but I love dark humor like the one in the movie. It's a movie in which you more or less know how it's gonna go, but you enjoy the characters going through the journey regardless and, yeah, you feel a little disgusted watching her make some of the decision she does. But part of what makes it so great is the irony in it all.

I don't know, but the ending is as disgusting, as it is funny, as it is...satisfying. And I jsut loved every single thing about this film. I don't understand the comparisons to Madison County...I mean, there have been many other films done on a somewhat similar subject...but the same can be said aobut just about everything else...and as long as they add something to the genre, then I welcome them.

Just about every great movie begins witha great script, and Mike white has done a wonderful job here.

A great movie, and one that has grown on me with time. i love it.

Everyone says that. I'll gladly Back-n-Forth someone whose willing to stand-up to my fangirl-ness when it comes to that film.



Okay. I'll take you on that since both you and PE say that she was convincing. I don't think she's a bad actress at all, I just think she was already a bit too well known and not in a way that was manageable. I actually found alot of her habits and facial gestures to be very Rachel-esque. But I've only seen friends maybe 10 times in its entire run, so it may have just stood out to me more. I'll say her casting was like Bardot in Contempt. She did a great job with what she was given, but I never forgot who she was. Sometimes directors do this on purpose because they want the history of the actress to be part of the film. I don't think that was the intent here though. It was the intent with Jake G. Because his past role was an angsty teen, and they wanted him to bring that history to this movie. I just think he went overboard and was given too superficial of a role for that to work.



I think the hilarity was misplaced. It wasn't dark at all...it was just situational. Which was the problem. American Beauty had "Dark" humor. This just has comic relief because the director wasn't willing to explore the questions too profoundly. Everytime it would get interesting it would get broken up by some comic relief or an easily anticipated "turn of events." So that you never had to deal with anything too seriously, not did you have to read the script as incorporating humor that would later make you deal with it seriously. It was a comic movie, but the director wanted it to be serious, and couldn't navigate the two.

The Comparison to Madison has to do with the landscape the two were set into, and the primary issue being a woman having to come to grips with how her life is not where she intended it to be. The questions of family and considerations of allegiances are very similar, but I thought Bridges made a much more convincing arguement as to how the heroine navigates her decisions in life. It is never a situational force of hand, it is not like anyone "finds-out" at a key moment, or an unexpected pregnancy, etc. It is just Streep struggling to figure out what she thinks she can get out of her own life. Aniston's take on it is too dependant on extremeties, and again, the running narration just made it way too boring and simple for me. Not once are you left wondering what she was thinking or why she respinded to something as she did. Those ambiguities are what lallows you to think about the movie after the fact. I really, didn't think about this movie once after I saw it with the expecption of trying to understand why I didn't really like it.

-Dolce

Hm...
I guess not too many people have seen it, eh?

Well, the movie hasn't been released in Germany yet... :?

Really? You should see it, interested it what you'd think of it.
Come on people, if you've seen the movie leave a comment!