Jennifer Aniston’s Greatest Role Is Surprisingly Dark, Stream Now
In the midst of her portrayal of Rachel Green on Friends, Jennifer Aniston began to transition her career to film roles that would eventually make her the darling of multiple comedy features including Horrible Bosses and The Break-up. In a rare performance in 2002, Aniston showed that she was perhaps more versatile than fans of her iconic sitcom believed possible. That year, her film The Good Girl made its debut at Sundance, her performance dazzling its audiences and pleasing critics.
Jennifer Aniston Delivers Stellar Acting In The Good Girl
It’s not that Aniston’s Justine is the actress’s most likable character (that distinction is awarded to her portrayal of Ron Livingstone’s romantic interest in 1998’s Office Space). In fact, The Good Girl‘s Justine is dim, boring, and without much of a personality showing through in the first part of the film.
Justine and her husband Phil (John C. Reilly) are fantastic screen representations of the phrase “peaked in high school.” Phil works as a house painter and spends the rest of his time smoking pot with his equally lazy childhood friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson), while Justine drones through each workday as a cashier at a local big box retailer. But The Good Girl takes these mundane and one-dimensional figures and forces an upheaval in their lives that is so real to watch that it’s painful.
Aniston’s Character Has An Affair With A Young Co-Worker Played By Jake Gyllenhaal
The story in The Good Girl takes Justine from a bored and childless 30-year-old woman to one who gets some needed excitement from a short romantic affair with a younger co-worker. The new object of her affection is quickly revealed to be emotionally unstable, bringing about brilliantly acted scenes between Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays her lover and co-worker Holden.
Her Performance Feels Reel
The Good Girl shows Aniston able to portray Justine as a defeated young adult before giving her new life and energy from an extra-marital affair. Aniston makes every bored look, sideways glances, and emotional tear from Justine feel real. In one scene that shows Justine having sex after being blackmailed into the act, Aniston is able to scream volumes about Justine’s emotions without having to say a line or make a sound.
One Of Jake Gyllenhaal’s Best Roles In His Early Career
But Aniston isn’t the only cast member that performed worthy of critical accolades. Co-star Jake Gyllenhaal is able to translate the tone and body language of a young man undergoing an emotional breakdown from the script to the screen with a level of believability that is equally cringy and sympathetic to watch. The Good Girl served the actor well at the beginning of his career, helping pave the way for bigger budget features and starring roles.
John C. Reilly and Tim Blake Nelson play their roles so well that it might have made 30-something potheads reconsider their lives. They both played characters that are high and dimwitted with such perfection that they seem like they could be two burnouts any of us went to high school with.
Where To Stream The Good Girl
REVIEW SCORE
The Good Girl is a film with many merits to its credit. Aniston and Reilly breaking away from their typical roles is incredible to see, as is Gyllenhaal’s ability to believably play someone emotionally unhinged. The script is dark subject matter, but there is still a decent smattering of wit and humor that lighten the overall grey tone of Justine’s life and the tragic developments concerning Holden’s character arc. It might be a forgotten gem, but it’s still a film that is deserving of four stars.
The Good Girl is available to stream on Paramount+.
