Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13481 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-05-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 89 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In The Good Girl Jennifer Aniston gets a make-under that would make her Friends character weep, but she finally proves her acting mettle away from the ditzy-but-glamorous Rachel type. A low-key drama from the writer and director duo behind Chuck and Buck, The Good Girl places Aniston's bored shop-girl Justine at the centre of a soul-destroying life in a sleepy Texan town. Like a modern Madame Bovary, Justine's life is stuck in a rut--her marriage is dull and her job at the Retail Rodeo even duller--when a new colleague Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal) offers her an escape. A tortured soul who's obsessed with The Catcher in the Rye and thinks nobody understands him, Holden is a typical, angst-ridden young man. But to Justine he's intriguing and romantic and their shared sense of dejection soon leads to an affair and a short-lived liberation from their daily lives.

Aniston could never pass as dowdy but she does a very convincing turn as the crestfallen Justine, using subtlety and dry humour rather than melodrama to convey her quiet desperation. John C Reilly as her permanently stoned husband and Tim Blake Nelson as his creepy chum are both superb alongside her. Even the smaller roles are furnished with some memorable moments: Justine's colleague makes outrageous tannoy announcements to zombie-like customers at the Retail Rodeo. Funny, strange and touching by turns The Good Girl, has its awkward moments but as a quirky slice of life it gets most things right.

On the DVD: The Good Girl offers a feature-length commentary from director Miguel Arteta and writer Mike White that takes a while to get going but does provide some insight and humour. Aniston adds a scene-specific commentary that sadly does little to enhance the viewing of the film; short comments, some with massive pauses, offer little in the way of insight into her breakout performance. Deleted scenes with optional commentary and an alternate ending add a little more bulk where the gag reel (out-takes of the cast laughing) fails. It's not the package the film deserves. --Laura Bushell

Special Features
Audio Commentary by director Miguel Artea and Writer/actor Mike White (Dolby 2.0)
Scene specific audio commentary by Jennifer Aniston (Dolby 2.0)
Alternative ending montage
Outtakes reel
Nine deleted scenes with optional audio commentary (English for the hearing impaired)
Dolby 5.1
Aspect Ratio 1.85:1

Synopsis
THE GOOD GIRL, directed by Miguel Arteta and written by Mike White, stars Jennifer Aniston as Justine, a sullen 30-year-old woman stuck in a dead-end job at the Retail Rodeo department store. In addition to her mind-numbing occupation, Justine also has to contend with her dim-witted husband Phil (John C. Reilly) and his friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson), who work as house painters when they aren't smoking pot and staring blankly at the television screen. Justine sees an opportunity for change when she meets Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal), a fellow Retail Rodeo employee who is even more depressed than herself. The young Holden (who patterns himself after Holden Caulfield of J.D. Salinger's THE CATCHER IN THE RYE) and Justine soon begin a passionate secret affair, unaware that it may not be so secret after all.
With THE GOOD GIRL, Arteta and White, the creators of the indie hit CHUCK & BUCK, have fashioned yet another oddly affecting comedy out of misery and obsession. Playing the polar opposite of the character she plays on the TV show FRIENDS, Aniston is outstanding as Justine, a melancholy wife torn between the temptation of an affair and loyalty to her husband. Gyllenhaal is excellent as Justine's angst-ridden younger beau, while Reilly plays her slacker spouse to perfection. Also notable in their supporting roles are Nelson, who portrays a scheming stoner; screenwriter White, who appears as Retail Rodeo's pious security guard; and Zooey Deschanel, who gleefully dispenses sarcasm as a customer-hating clerk. A delicate balance of dark humor and sincere emotion, THE GOOD GIRL stands out as an overachieving film about underachieving people.

Customer Reviews

The Good Movie
The Good Girl is a quirky and unusual film with a very non-typical sense of humour. Jennifer Aniston plays Justine, a depressed married woman working at a dead end job in a ghost town. They manage to make her look almost ordinary with makeup and a very unflattering wardrobe, and she plays Justine with a surprising depth and sensitivity. The strangely beautiful Jake Gyllenhaal plays Holden (real name Thom) a depressed and ever-so-slightly pretentious co-worker with little thought for anyone but his self. Justine instantly falls for Holden's hatred of the world and dark, dramatic manner and the two begin an affair behind Justine's back. What follows is a darkly comic and melancholic state of affairs.

Jennifer Aniston proves she can hold her own in this complete turn around for her typical sitcom/rom com roles. She was never going to win an Oscar for this performance but she holds her own amongst a stronger cast. John C Reilly is brilliant as the dumb stoner husband who really has a heart of gold underneath it all. Jake Gyllenhaal adds a strong touch of melodrama to his performance, a fairly unusual thing to see after his beautifully underplayed Donnie Darko. Usually overacting annoys me, but here it is a clever touch, providing Holden's character with a sense of being almost a caricature of a priveleged boy who deliberately isolates his self and considers himself to be truly unique...a trait he shares with the real Holden Caulfield.

Unlike most of the other reviewers on this site, I found this film very funny, but not in an obvious dumb sitcom type of way. Holden's character is just hilarious to behold, the droll announcements and merciless piss-taking of disgruntled Retail Rodeo employee Cheryl is brilliant ("Liquid Drain Cleaner has churning power and it will churn right through your pipes. Ladies, you need female plumbing. Shove something clean and new up your filthy pipes. That's Liquid Drain Cleaner on aisle 3." and "This is a hand lotion, so don't put it on any other part of your body, even if that part needs lubrication").

However, like its male romantic lead, The Good Girl suffers from a touch of pretension, everything feels a little deliberately low key, Hollywood trying to do an indie flick. Nonetheless, its clever and amusing and the beautiful Jake Gyllenhaal steals the show and proves he's more than just another pretty Hollywood face. Its not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, however it is a nice way to spend a depressing Sunday afternoon.

Tragicomedy at its best
This film was hyped up for the Aniston-breaks-mould aspect, but it deserves much higher praise. The observational humour in this film really brings it to life: down to the individual customers in the shop, every character portrays a slice of life both funny and piercingly painful to watch. Jennifer Aniston's performance is tremendous and, as a viewer, you feel hugely empathetic as the hole Justine is digging keeps on getting deeper. The actors all know exactly how much to give to make this film ring true, and, at the very least, you will end your viewing thanking your lucky stars that you don't spend your days in a Retail Rodeo.

I love this film and all that it stands for in film-making, and I recommend it unreservedly. More like this, please.

Worth a look.
I'll admit I was intrigued to see how well Jennifer Aniston could play it straight and she doesn't dissapoint.
The character of Justine acts in an unforgivable way towards both her husband (John C Reilly) and her lover (Jake Gyllenhaal) yet I found myself rooting for her. This is thanks to Aniston's amazing performance.
The film has a perfect cast both John C Reilly and Jake Gyllenhaal are brilliant and should have won awards for their performances. (I also quite fancied Jake Gyllenhaal in this film-if you like him then watch this film!)
It's hard to put this film into a genre as its funny but also tragic so it can't be described as either comedy or drama. I think the only way to describe it is unmissable.