The Good Girl
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Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 35 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.0 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 56 Ratings

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  • Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Aniston
  • Summary: A frustrated young woman (Aniston) begins an affair with a young co-worker (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

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    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.
  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    80
    This one comes up short in terms of visual flair. But it delivers amusingly observed characters, consistent laughs underscored by the poignancy of unfulfilled existences and winning performances from a terrific cast captained by Jennifer Aniston.
  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    80
    Like "Chuck & Buck," The Good Girl is a droll, well-acted, character-driven comedy with unexpected deposits of feeling.
  4. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    60
    Even during the most intense moments, it's hard to shake the impression that the conspicuously buff-and-polished Justine is only visiting this drab world, her miserable life an interesting career move.

See all 35 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 35
  3. Negative: 16 out of 35
  1. samy
    8
    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.… Expand
  2. CraigH.
    3
    [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

See all 35 User Reviews

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