Sunday, October 20, 2002

The Good Girl (IMDB) (Netflix)
Friends' Jennifer Aniston goes indie, with this morality tale of a bored, restless wife in a small Texas town. She gets caught up with a younger co-worker who insists on being called Holden (as in Caufield), and you know there's going to be trouble. Everything that could go wrong with this fling in fact does, creating an ever-stickier web that Aniston seems unable to untangle.

Fellow viewers liked the relaxed pacing, Aniston's performance and less-than-Hollywood ending, but I had trouble with some broad, unflattering portrayals of small-town Americans, some too-easy laughs and the I-see-where-this-is-headed storyline. Aniston does have some acting range beyond what's required in a sitcom, and Tim Blake Nelson's role of the husband's best friend displays edge and texture, but overall it's less than special.