The Good Girl

Name: The Good Girl
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: August 7, 2002
Duration: 93 min
Rating: 71
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Aniston

2002

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Ratings

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7.2

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7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Ratings

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The Good Girl

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Movie Details & Credits

Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: August 7, 2002 | R

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Aniston

Summary: A frustrated young woman (Jennifer Aniston) begins an affair with a young co-worker (Jake Gyllenhaal) who represents a chance for her to escape into a new world of emotional and sexual awakening. But when the affair quickly moves from liberation to poisonous obsession, she finds herself ensnared in a chaotic web of blackmail, larceny andA frustrated young woman (Jennifer Aniston) begins an affair with a young co-worker (Jake Gyllenhaal) who represents a chance for her to escape into a new world of emotional and sexual awakening. But when the affair quickly moves from liberation to poisonous obsession, she finds herself ensnared in a chaotic web of blackmail, larceny and love. [Fox Searchlight]… Expand

Director: Miguel Arteta

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 93 min

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Critic Reviews

100

David Sterritt

Aniston and Reilly give the best of many excellent performances. A few plotty scenes aside, this quietly directed drama paints a sensitive, sympathetic portrait of modern malaise, and has a smart sense of humor as a bonus. Read full review

A.O. Scott

There's more to everyone here than we're initially led to think. The Good Girl is like a neurotically charged post-millennial take on the trailer-park comedies that Jonathan Demme once claimed for himself. Read full review

Claudia Puig

A sharp-tongued, subtly nuanced tragicomedy starring Jennifer Aniston, who shows her depth as a serious actress in this dark tale. Read full review

James Berardinelli

Offers nothing more spectacular than a character study. And, although The Good Girl's protagonist may be trapped by routine, that's one claim that can never be made about the movie. Read full review

Ella Taylor

Aniston plays her depressed character with enough conviction to guarantee that practically every scene will be stolen out from under her by minor characters, among them a pricelessly funny Zooey Deschanel as a Retail Rodeo employee who vents her rage and frustration on the customers. Read full review

Andrew O'Hehir

Never quite establishes its own identity, and when you remember it in two years it's likely to be that movie you saw that you kind of liked with that girl in it, what's her name, from TV. Read full review

Keith Phipps

Skillfully sketches the parameters of its small-town existence but never quite fleshes out the inhabitants of those parameters. Without the well-considered humor and strongly defined characters of "Chuck," only a good cast stands between Girl and some familiar stereotypes. Read full review

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User Reviews

beingryanjude

Aug 25, 2014

We've seen troubled souls before, but never quite like this. The Good Girl is moving and dark, with just enough romance. Performances from Gyllenhaal and Reilly are noteworthy; nevertheless, Jennifer Aniston gives her finest performance to date.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

samy

Apr 5, 2010

An excellent performance from Jennifer Aniston who really does show that she can play someone other than Rachel Green. Also a brilliant screenplay and a wonderful underrated performance from Zooey Deschanel as Cheryl, the foul-mouthed Retail Rodeo employee.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

amheretojudge

Mar 1, 2018

or are they just keeping quiet like you..

The Good Girl Pitching it up for around 90 minutes; the track is short and the pace is on, resulting onto an entertaining experience but is it satisfying? Well that's a question one will take it to its grave for there is too much going on to digestor are they just keeping quiet like you..

The Good Girl

Pitching it up for around 90 minutes; the track is short and the pace is on, resulting onto an entertaining experience but is it satisfying? Well that's a question one will take it to its grave for there is too much going on to digest and accept even if it is barred within logic and genuine reasoning. Miguel Arteta doesn't quite gets the depiction right which leads to the most confused experience ever for on the other hand Mike White's screenplay is fast and gripping. On performance level, there isn't much to complaint from Jennifer Aniston, John C. Reilly and Jake Gyllenhaal but there surely isn't anything inspiring or impressive too. The Good Girl lacks a character development and a better projection of it and due to this the reasoning; no matter how much circumstantial and concrete, the feature just doesn't fit for it doesn't help connecting the audience to them.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

CraigH.

Sep 21, 2002

[Potential Spoilers Omitted] I think most people will agree that this movie depicted the mundane lives of some fairly unsuccessful people. Great! . . but what else? It was very humorous, and the scattered jokes provided much needed comic relief. But what else? What is this movie really [Potential Spoilers Omitted] I think most people will agree that this movie depicted the mundane lives of some fairly unsuccessful people. Great! . . but what else? It was very humorous, and the scattered jokes provided much needed comic relief. But what else? What is this movie really trying to say? I don't see anything. I started out feeling bad for Justine, and was rooting for her as the heroine of the film. But wait. . . it turns out that about half way through the movie, she has made several unexcusable, heart-wrenching decisions. After her accepteptance of blackmail "rape" by Bubba I could no longer root for Justine. In fact, I didn't even like her or in the least feel bad for her. Justine's problems were her own doing, and she hadn't done anything to try and solve them. So who do I root for? Who provides the substance for this film? No one. . . there isn't a single hero or heroine. Does the baby make up for the rest of her depressing mistakes? Has she redeemed herself by starting a family that otherwise wasn't ever going to start? No! ....... Maybe the baby gives her a chance to start over? Not at all! There is so little character development that it isn't clear if her feelings have changed for her husband. ..... To me, the baby only accentuated the point that her life wasn't going anywhere and that she wasn't going to do anything to change it. I'm not trying to say that movies shouldn't be depressing, but movies should contain substance. Overall, this movie provided me with 93 minutes in which I watched a person singlehandedly screw up their whole life (two lives if you count Tom) by making completely immoral and generally poor decisions. What does this tell us? You can really screw up your life by making bad decisions? I think we already knew that. . . It sucks to not have an education? I think we already knew that too. . . We should think about the consequences of our actions? . . . ohhhh really? … Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful

sassymah

Dec 12, 2016

Terrible adultery film that tries to glorify horrible actions with a hammy performance from Aniston that was overpraised by critics trying to prove that the golden girl at the time could act when she lacks range. The film has no heart and the dialogue feels contrived.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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89	#89 Best Movie of 2002
75	#75 Most Shared Movie of 2002