The Good Girl

This is being hailed as Jennifer Aniston’s breakout film, and thank God, because it’s about time she became a star. Actually, the movie belongs to the minor characters, including Zooey Deschanel as a potty-mouthed department store clerk, and screenwriter Mike White as a wimpy, Christian security guard. When not making fun of shoppers and the religious, the film is a rehash of the old middle-aged-woman-unsatisfied-with-her-life story. Aniston plays Justine, whose stoner husband doesn’t seem so cool now that she’s not in high school. She falls for young Holden, a sensitive writer manqué who comes off as the exact opposite of her unwanted spouse. Shockingly, things don’t work out swimmingly, and drama ensues. You’ll probably have fun anticipating the next plot twist, as they’re all telegraphed with the urgency of Titanic S.O.S. Still, as standard and safe as it is, the film is well made and passably funny, and I guess that’s all we’re looking for in this brief interim between bloody Asian conflicts.