TMS Movie Review: A Good Person
(Jeong Park / MGM Pictures)
Nineteen years after sitcom star Zach Braff was accused of stereotyping the indie film drama and popularizing the ‘manic pixie dream girl’ trope with his writing-directing debut, Garden State (2004), we are given his fourth feature behind the camera. A Good Person stars Florence Pugh, one of the best actors of her generation and Braff’s girlfriend at the time of production. For the fans’ sakes, it was probably wise of Braff not to cast himself on screen this time around. Like Garden State, A Good Person focuses on young people dealing with grief in Braff’s home state of New Jersey. Fortunately for movie viewers, Pugh’s protagonist is a huge step up from Natalie Portman as Braff’s love interest in State, and probably the biggest highlight of the new film.
Recent fiancée Allison’s life (Pugh) takes a turn for the worse when she’s responsible for the deaths of her fiancé’s sister and brother-in-law while looking at her phone as she’s driving on the freeway. Instantly, the engagement to Nathan (Chinaza Uche) is off, she’s depressed, reclusive, and hooked on the pain medication for her accident injuries. Meanwhile, Nathan, his dad Daniel (Morgan Freeman) and his niece Ryan (Celeste O’Connor) are dealing with the deaths in the family in their own ways, which ultimately leads them back to Allie.
(Jeong Park / MGM Pictures)
A Good Person also co-stars Molly Shannon as Allie’s frustrated mother while Alex Wolff makes a brief appearance as a druggie and former classmate of Allie. The best scene in the movie is early on between Pugh and Wolff while the former is nagging the latter about her denial about her substance problem. It’s always great to see two young, powerhouse talents perform off each other effortlessly. The weaknesses in A Good Person are primarily from Braff, unfortunately. Here we have another case of a down-to-earth dramedy filmmaker who goes full circle as a parody of his style, in the same vein as Cameron Crowe, Richard Linklater, Rob Reiner and Garry Marshall. Whether it’s the twee indie pop songs, the ironic comic relief, the subdued drama or the preachy climax, A Good Person just feels redundant and dated to what initially made Braff a successful director in 2004. There are also a few cringe worthy moments between the younger characters which feel a bit “How do you do, fellow kids?” and out of touch with people who are young in real life.
The strangest part of A Good Person is how the detail of Allie checking her phone while driving on the freeway is barely acknowledged, feeling like an afterthought until the very last minute. As if Braff almost forgot his lead actually was responsible for the inciting incident. Like with Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry, Darling (2022) and Cate Shortland’s Black Widow (2021), Pugh’s performance slightly elevates a mediocre script. Allie has potential as a character and the plot could be executed well, since both are similar to what we saw with Melora Walters in PT Anderson’s Magnolia (1999) or Naomi Watts in AG Iñárritu’s 21 Grams (2003). But sadly, I’m once again going to have to suggest revisiting the previous pictures more than seeing the new one.