THE GOOD GIRL

It’s easy to see why the studio did not invite MOVIEGUIDE® to the press screenings for THE GOOD GIRL, a new movie starring Jennifer Anniston of TV’s FRIENDS. Not only does the movie tell a tale of adultery, it also contains a negative portrayal of Christians, Texas and small-town American life.

THE GOOD GIRL tells the story of Justine, a 30-year-old woman who works as a clerk at a discount store in a small West Texas town. Disappointed with her childless marriage to her pothead, house painting husband, Phil, Justine commits adultery with Tom, a 22-year-old clerk at her store who fancies himself a serious writer. Tom prefers to call himself Holden, after the famous juvenile character in the novel CATCHER IN THE RYE.

Eventually, Phil’s best friend, Bubba, finds out about Justine’s affair. Bubba has always admired Phil for landing such a pretty girl as Justine, but now Bubba realizes that his best friend is a clueless idiot. So, Bubba blackmails Justine to fornicate with him. Tom witnesses the act, however, and decides to take measures into his own hands to force Justine to decide to run away with him. Tragedy results.

Other than Justine, all the speaking characters in this attack on small-town American life are relentlessly stupid and dull. One of the stupid characters is a security guard at the store where Justine works, played by Mike White, the writer of this piece. The guard invites Justine and Phil to a Christian Bible study. Justine and Phil almost go one night, when Justine gets pangs of moral conscience, but one of the people at the church turns out to be the motel clerk where she and Tom meet for sex. Eventually, it turns out that the Christian guard at her store has been secretly watching Justine and Tom make love in the storeroom in the back. Justine gets her revenge on this Christian voyeur at the end of the story, however.

Christians, not to mention people from West Texas, should sue the filmmakers of THE GOOD GIRL for defamation of character. One critic claimed about this movie that writer Mike Clark and director Miguel Arteta, who also teamed up for the despicable homosexual movie CHUCK & BUCK, treat their characters with “compassion rather than contempt.” If this is compassionate treatment, then Osama bin Laden is just an annoyed Arab. Clearly, White and Arteta think all Christians are a bunch of nincompoops. They also apparently think that depictions of sexual intercourse, masturbation and full male nudity are no big deal.

Beyond that, however, the point of their story gets lost in the telling. Although Justine is finally forced to admit her adultery and seems to repair her relationship with Phil, her actions result in one suicide. She also commits another lie that gets another man in trouble. Justine is never punished for all these sins. Furthermore, the boredom and frustration that started her down the road to perdition are not really resolved at the end. Thus, the premise of THE GOOD GIRL remains unclear. What’s left is the message that all Christians and all men are fools, especially if they come from a small town in West Texas.

Instead of trying to improve the people around her, Justine just suffers them in silence. Jesus Christ tells us, however, not to hide our light under a bushel. If the people around us are not edifying, then it is we who must patiently edify them.