The Good Girl
Written by Mike White
Directed by Miguel Arteta
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly, Tim Blake Nelson

             The Good Girl begins with a poetic, southern-twanged narration in the tradition of Badlands and Raising Arizona.   The voice is that of Justine (Aniston), a bored employee of The Retail Rodeo and unfulfilled wife of pothead house painter,  Phil (Reilly).  She needs a change in her life, and when a new employee starts working at her store, she jumps at the chance to befriend him. 
            The new employee could possibly have been anyone, but it happens to be Tom (Gyllenhaal), a young man who calls himself Holden after the character from “Catcher in the Rye”.  Tom is a tortured writer.  He wants to leave a legacy and go into hiding like his hero J.D. Salinger.  Justine finds in common the fact that people don’t “get him”.  She, too, feels misunderstood. 
              Soon, Tom and Justine are having an affair, sleeping together in the store, in her car, in a motel.  They are witnessed by Phil’s best friend, Bubba (Nelson), leading to a disturbing but funny twist of blackmail and jealousy.  Finally, a decision arises where Justine must choose between her simple, humdrum life of before and an on-the-run adventure with Tom.
             Mike White and Miguel Arteta, collaborating again after their success with Chuck and Buck, have created an uncomfortable black comedy.  Their characters and situations aren’t nearly as dark as their previous effort resulting in a much more entertaining and watch-able film.  The misery and whiny angst of the two leads are balanced with colorful support by Deborah Jackson, Zooey Deschanel, John Carroll Lynch and Mike White, himself, who fill out the Retail Rodeo staff.  Every time one of them is on screen, a laugh breaks through the grey clouds of death, masturbation, sex, vomiting and abuse, subject matter that is easily ignored in the end.  
The film’s tone, then, creates a desensitization with which to relate to Justine.  Throughout most of the story, she is stone-faced and emotionless regarding advice, solution and action.  Much like Sissy Spacek’s naïve character  in Badlands, it seems too easy for her to do the things she does, be it ditching her ill co-worker at the hospital, attempting a murder by poison, lying to her husband, or betraying a trusting friend.  But, in favor of her nihilistic masochism, the film is filled with good advice - don’t eat meat because it could lead to illness, don’t smoke pot because it lowers your sperm - that turn in ironic directions.
             The Good Girl shares an overall theme with Badlands and Raising Arizona in addition to the similarities in voice-over, humor and characterization:  a seemingly good girl crosses the line of right and wrong, influenced by a criminally disturbed male partner yet guilty of her own bad judgment.  I could watch The Good Girl repeatedly, just as I watch the other two again and again.

Warning:  Smoking Llama brand cigarrettes can cause hallucinations of demonic bunnies.   Wait, thats a different movie.