Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
A discount store clerk strikes up an affair with a stock boy who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.
The Good Girl is carried largely by Jennifer Aniston's against-type dramatic performance, which is genuinely impressive and career-best work. The plot is a quietly observed character study of small-town despair and infidelity, competently constructed but not especially surprising in its trajectory. Cinematography is functional and flat — the washed-out suburban aesthetic fits the mood but offers little visual distinction. Novelty is moderate: the Holden Caulfield conceit and the deadpan indie tone give it some personality, though the infidelity-drama framework is familiar. The ending is appropriately bleak and honest but not particularly resonant or memorable.