Jennifer Aniston finally proves once and for all she isn’t the talentless fembot we thought she was for her entire Friends career. In this tale of the sleepy urban rankhood of Middle America, she comes alive as part plain white trash, part awakening sleeper and part wide-eyed innocent finally seeing the world for the first time - and hating what she sees. What threatens a couple of times to spill into the usual hidden-violence horror, turns rapidly and delivers something entirely new that, with relief, keeps us absorbed.

Justine Last is waking up. Having recently turned 30 and spending her days in the Retail Rodeo, a variety store chock full of dead-eyed zombie staff and minimal customers, she realises she hasn’t done much about her life. Married for the last seven years to a pot-smoking painter (house, not canvas) she suddenly becomes enamoured with Holden, a 22 year-old writer with a major chip on his shoulder. Beginning a rather sweet friendship, the two get closer until Holden declares his love for her. A comical if sordid affair begins at roughly the same time a tragedy with another friend occurs throwing Justine’s thoughts into confusion. Holden swiftly becomes emotionally dependent on her, penning furious stories of their lives together that all utilise his same limited experience and childish ambitions.

Then her husband’s best friend catches them.

The comedy of circumstances that follow are naturally awkward and incredibly intricate as Justine must try and figure out the whole mess before her husband finds out and inevitably decides what it is she actually wants from her life.

Another in the increasing amount of genre switching films, The Good Girl is an involving exploration of one woman’s experience (or lack of it) in life and how far she is willing to go to get more. Aniston is a far stretch from Rachel Green here, downplaying her usually more glamorous appeal in favour of this rather downtrodden crushed flower. John C. Reilly is excellent throughout, playing Phil Last, the painter husband, in his sensitive if brutish manner. Oblivious to all around him, he is nevertheless a kind man, if a little distanced from what’s actually going on.

I enjoyed this film far more than I thought I would and this is in equal parts to the calibre of acting and the unusually well written and well defined subtleties of character that make the film so much more real.

Unfortunately, something is amiss with the DVD product here. Blacks and shadows have been treated to some sort of bizarre blue, rather than a regular black. This runs throughout and gets a little irritating by the end, which is a real disappointment compared to Fox’s usual excellent transfers. I have it on good authority that the film print seen in cinemas suffered the same blue fate. To add to that problem, if only slightly, there are some instances of light graininess on occasion and the picture quality is just off sharp. However, the other colours are fine and flesh tones are all natural.

To the film’s credit though, a lot of the indoor stuff here is shot under the high ceilings and fluorescent lighting of a supermarket, and this has been accomplished perfectly, without any trace of the greenness that can occur in here.

Being so recent, we are naturally delivered a Dolby 5.1 Surround set, although it has little to do in this dialogue-driven film. Ms Aniston has attached a soft edged accent to her character here and she has managed to do so to perfection. Not just sticking a hard-edged pretend accent on, she has trimmed it and buffed it to resemble the lifetime use of someone who knows it inside out. Very convincing and a big plus toward the proof-of-ability thing. The dialogue is synched well throughout, save for one short moment mid-film.

Sound effects are barely noticeable, which is how it should be unless necessary to the story (explosions, stabbings... farts etc.) and what remains have been handled well. Musically the film is awesome, with a very nice acoustic score running throughout. Mostly guitar, there are some nice instances of violins and even cellos that really help set that sleepy stage of urbanity. I was reminded frequently of the music from About Schmidt in its plodding onward/ticking clock feeling. And to that end, both films are rather similar in theme.

Being a rental, there is nothing at all here by way of extras, unfortunately.

Well, she sold me on it. My partner and I really enjoyed this story with its common themes that incorporated some unusual approaches. Some genuine surprising moments of laughing-out-loud are granted us, which helps to break the tension up a little. In this I was given the impression that the themes that are so very tense in real life, have been replaced with something a little less strong to help us see a different side of what is possibly an open and shut case in reality. Performances are solid, the plot builds block upon block very rhythmically (adding to the ticking clock feel) until the tower must collapse, which makes the story very enjoyable and easily watched.

Well worth the renting, as a purchase this will have rewatch value if you can live with the blue blacks. Being the film seems to have suffered the blues since cinemas though, I would deem it unlikely these will be cleaned up before a retail release. This is a real shame, as the film itself is quite rewarding.