(Rated R, 93 mins.)
This time plain-Jane-ing it from the life of Mrs. Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, (with drab, dirty hair), takes a dark comedy role written/directed by the “Chuck and Buck” team, that could give her a noteworthy career post “Friends”. One can actually feel her enthusiasm bleeding through this non-glamorous role. Justine (Aniston) is the Good Girl, a discount store clerk, who longs for a life more fulfilling than the one she leads with her house painter, pot smoking husband, Phil (John C. Reilly), and ever present buddy, Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson). This all changes when she finds her soulmate in Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal), just a few cash-registers away; a passionate man that her parents “don’t get”. But, when this exciting sexual awakening affair turns from liberation to weird obsession, Justine finds herself in a chaotic web of blackmail, larceny and of course, love, which got her there in the first place. Often secondary characters make a movie as with the case of this — the horny best friend of Blake Nelson, the store announcer from hell, the Bible carrying security guard and the list goes on. For a small indie film it has punch all the while maintaining glimpses into reality, as director Miguel Arteta continues his fascination with characters, desperate to carve out a better life.
