WEIRDLAND: The bad review girl

Sunday, September 24, 2006

The bad review girl



I'm proud of a new local TV station working in Aragon (Spain) where my brother and his girl live and work, so they could watch "The Good Girl" last Monday 18 September, and they loved it (probably she loved it more than my brother, because he doesn't like Jennifer Aniston too much but I've initiated her in the Jake). Aragonese people dig Jake Gyllenhaal in excessive quantities, too. I've been reading a negative review towards the film by Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly) and I'll explain why I disagree with her:

"Bored with her marriage to a lunkish, pothead, housepainter husband (John C. Reilly), Justine falls briefly for a sensitive but disturbed younger fellow employee (Jake Gyllenhaal, specialist in Holden Caulfield types), and the likable Aniston walks the part with a carefully practiced shuffle of despair. She speaks with a carefully practiced twang."

Come on, it's practically impossible falling briefly for someone as Jake/Holden.

"'I saw in your eyes that you hate the world. I hate it too'' one Retail Rodeo loser tells another, although anyone with the ability to articulate such observations clearly has more resources for success than this movie has use for. ''The Good Girl'' only pretends to care about good people who sometimes do bad things. In fact, it hasn't got time for the pain."

Well, I'm afraid many people, maybe too many, have the ability to articulate incredible smart observations about life while they are victimised brutally by society's repressor forces. And almost every script line is full of ad-lib humdrum painful or funny comments in a natural, non contrived way.

1 comment :

Elena said...

why was she ever with him to begin with?...

cause she said sth like they married right after highschool.... maybe he was fun then, and when you are young and smoke pot for fun and hang around with friends...its cool.

I think, Simon, that thesweetestone has replied you in a very probable explanation of how Justine and Phil got engaged (she regretted of it years after of her decision when it was too late).

And holden was the bravest, perhaps, but he was also insane. So he took the risk, but reality "put him back to his place". Sux

Perfectly summed up, it was downright discernible that Holden was the only "insanely" consequent character in his desires in the movie.