|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
 |
Preview by Jack Foley |
|
|
FRIENDS star Jennifer Aniston appears to be on a role at the moment. Having
just secured an Emmy award for her performance as Rachel in the ninth series
of the popular TV show (the first cast member to do so), the jovial Mrs Brad
Pitt has also been earning rave reviews for her performance in indie movie
favourite, The Good Girl.
Directed by Miguel Arteta and co-starring Donnie Darko's Jake Gyllenhaal,
the movie finds Aniston as a small-town Texas store clerk, trapped in a stale
marriage, who embarks on an affair with Gyllenhaal's disturbed younger clerk,
who claims to be named after the famous JD Salinger character.
Things become more complicated, however, when Aniston becomes pregnant and
her husband's best friend threatens to reveal her secret.
An audience and critics' favourite at this year's Sundance Film Festival (where
it played alongside the likes of One Hour Photo), The Good Girl marks something
of a second coming for Aniston on the Big Screen, as previous attempts to
break away from her Friends persona have so far proved less than successful.
For starters, Aniston appears dowdy and unpolished, while her performance
forced many critics in America to sit up and take notice, which isn't bad
for someone who confesses to enduring many 'cry-fests' on set, during filming.
So keen was the actress to get involved with the project, that she worked
on the film during weekends, away from the Friends set. Yet it was a move
which frequently reduced her to tears.
Asked whether she would do it again, Aniston says 'never', stating that she
values her sanity and her private life too much to go through such an exhausting
schedule any more.
But the effort sounds worth it, as the views from America (below) would indicate...
The movie opens in the UK on January 10, 2003.
What the US critics said...
Praise
for the movie was virtually unanimous, with even those who found something
to complain about erring on the side of caution.
Leading the way, however, is Film Journal International, which stated that
The Good Girl is 'a heartfelt look, both funny and sad, at what can happen
when dull little people get big romantic ideas'.
Hollywood.com announced that it was 'quite possibly the best-written, best-acted
film of the summer', while the Los Angeles Times wrote that it is 'one of
the year's best films'.
Film Threat felt that 'overall, the film wins out with its stark truths and
slightly twisted pay off's along the way', while the New York Post referred
to it as 'a comedy as black as the asphalt desert of a mall parking lot' and
awarded it three and a half out of four stars.
The New York Times, meanwhile, declared it 'a winner, helped along by a no-frills
performance by Jennifer Aniston', while Salon's critic wrote: "I almost
feel like I'm being pissy for not liking it more than I do."
The praise was continued by USA Today, which wrote that 'the characters may
be lost, but viewers will be grateful to have stumbled on this darkly comic
and well-told story', while Village Voice opined that it is 'a droll, well-acted,
character-driven comedy with unexpected deposits of feeling'.
Of a more mixed nature were the likes of Entertainment Weekly, which awarded
it a C, and said that it 'only pretends to care about good people who sometimes
do bad things', while TV Guide felt that 'the casting of Aniston is a coup
that may draw audiences to this admirably risky, heartfelt film, but her presence
can't help but diminish its seriousness'.
The final word, however, is a good one and delivered by Variety, which wrote
that the film 'delivers amusingly observed characters, consistent laughs …
and winning performances from a terrific cast captained by Jennifer Aniston'.
PAST FOREIGN LANGUAGE/INDIE PREVIEWS: Click here
for a look at Igby Goes Down...
Sandler finds critical acclaim and Punch-Drunk Love. Click here...
Farrell tries to connect with a sniper. Click here
for Phone Booth preview...
Click here for a preview of Tadpole....
Click here to find out why Soderbergh's
Full Frontal has been exposed by the critics...
Click here to find out why Mel Gibson
finds himself irresistibly drawn to The Passion...
Click here for The Magdalene Sisters
preview and Vatican controversy...
Click here for Sweet Sixteen details, Ken
Loach's latest...
Click here for 11'09"01 short film preview
and controversy...
Click here for El crimen del Padre
Amaro. Mexican controversy...
Williams develops a darker reputation. Click here
for One Hour Photo...
The most frightening horror since The Shining? Click here
for Frailty....
Irréversible, a life-affirming film about rape? Click here...
28 Days Later. Click here...
Talk To Her, the new Almodovar. Click here...
Lantana, one of the movies of the year? Click here...
Trouble Every Day, French vampire/cannibal flick. Click here...
