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The Good Girl

The Good Girl

Drama · Comedy · Romance · 2002

A discount store clerk strikes up an affair with a stock boy who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.

Movie details

The Good Girl

“It's her last best chance... is she going to take it?”

2002 Drama · Comedy · Romance 1h 33m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

A discount store clerk strikes up an affair with a stock boy who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Good Girl?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Strictly Sexual

Strictly Sexual

Drama · 2008

Two successful women, sick and tired of dating and relationships, decide to keep two young men in their pool house for strictly sexual purposes.

Sex and Death 101

Sex and Death 101

Comedy · 2007

A guy's life is turned around by an email, which includes the names of everyone he's had sex with and ever will have sex with. His situation gets worse when he encounters a femme fatale who targets men guilty of sex crime.

Dirty Sexy Saint

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Romance · 2019

Clay Kincaid hates the nickname 'Saint', he got for being too kind to stray animals and desperate people. Especially when it comes to women. With a rough and damaged past that has left him jaded, he doesn't do committed relationships. This is before he meets Samantha Jamieson, an heiress turned runaway in need of help. When she starts to work as a waitress at his bar, he discovers that she is someone truly special and amazing… someone that could warm his damaged heart.

She Came to Me

She Came to Me

Romance · 2023

Composer Steven Lauddem is plagued by a creative block which leaves him unable to finish the score for his big comeback opera. When his former therapist-turned-wife Patricia suggests he rekindle his creativity by getting lost in the city, Steven sets out in search of inspiration. His epiphany comes after he meets a spirited woman named Katrina and discovers his life has much more potential than he bargained for, or ever could have imagined.

Take This Waltz

Take This Waltz

Drama · 2011

Twenty-eight-year-old Margot is happily married to Lou, a good-natured cookbook author. But when Margot meets Daniel, a handsome artist who lives across the street, their mutual attraction is undeniable.

Just Before I Go

Just Before I Go

Comedy · 2015

Ted Morgan has been treading water for most of his life. After his wife leaves him, Ted realizes he has nothing left to live for. Summoning the courage for one last act, Ted decides to go home and face the people he feels are responsible for creating the shell of a person he has become. But life is tricky. The more determined Ted is to confront his demons, to get closure, and to withdraw from his family, the more Ted is yanked into the chaos of their lives. So, when Ted Morgan decides to kill himself, he finds a reason to live.

Hello I Must Be Going

Hello I Must Be Going

Drama · 2012

An affair with a 19-year old actor helps reinvigorate life for thirty-something Amy after she moves home to her parents’ house following her divorce.

XX/XY

XX/XY

Drama · 2002

Three friends begin a dangerous three-way relationship that spirals out of control, leading to dire consequences that haunt them ten years later.

Solitary Man

Solitary Man

Comedy · 2009

A car magnate watches his personal and professional life hit the skids because of his business and romantic indiscretions.

The Man from Elysian Fields

The Man from Elysian Fields

Drama · 2001

A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Miguel Arteta

Written by

Mike White

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston

Justine Last

Zooey Deschanel

Zooey Deschanel

Cheryl

Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal

Holden Worther

John Carroll Lynch

John Carroll Lynch

Jack Field, Your Store Manager

Tim Blake Nelson

Tim Blake Nelson

Bubba

John C. Reilly

John C. Reilly

Phil Last

Deborah Rush

Deborah Rush

Gwen Jackson

Court is in session

Put The Good Girl on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.