A Good Person

A work of art such as A Good Person cannot be the product of some casual connection. It’s the product of a soul connection, and I hope Braff and Pugh get another chance to work together.

Even as the film’s plot tips slightly overdramatic, it hits on something that feels very true, especially for viewers who have experience with addicts.

A Good Person seems to belong to a uniquely Dan Fogelman-esque subgenre of hyper sincere melodrama that sometimes clicks (“This Is Us”) and other times does not (“Life Itself”). Braff’s film is worlds better than “Life Itself,” but there are some similarities in how it strives for cosmic significance and ultimate tearjerking within a construct that the film tries to sell as authentically specific. In execution, it’s a bit more strained and contrived.

Braff is going for something broader than indie naturalism, so perhaps the film calls for less subtle brushstrokes. But the result is something that rings with far less thoughtfulness than he’s clearly capable of (particularly in light of the opioid crisis that the film mentions), despite Pugh’s remarkable attempts to ground the story.

Though Pugh valiantly muscles through the melancholy beats of Braff’s melodrama, there are too many other characters and plot threads to allow her to do much besides heave the story forward.

It is as if Pugh is having to push her way through narrative waters that threaten to wash away her performance. No matter how she continues to rise to the challenge, the film’s cascading of contrivances drown her out.

Braff puts us through a gruelling “relapse” montage as Allison hits the pills again after an illusory breakthrough and then a “recovery” montage as she gets it together. And the film’s single valuable lesson – the one about not looking at your phone while driving – is all but forgotten.

A very soulful and heart warming story about love, friendship and relationships that go beyond. Morgan Freeman and Florence Pugh give their excellent performance that pulls in the viewer into the movie by pushing all emotions that their characters experience onto the viewer. It also subtly informs about the opioid crisis that is prevalent in society and how it affects people. Excellent family movie that can make you feel good at the end of the day.

The chemistry between Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman is the best thing about this movie about addiction, loss, and how to recover from both by accepting help from others. Pugh does not disappoint as a woman whose life falls apart after a terrible accident, and she certainly manages to get into the role physically and emotionally. It's also nice to see Freeman in an interesting one after a long time, and most surprising of all, he makes it look all too easy. Zach Braff, who enamored independent film lovers with 'Garden State' a long time ago, delivers a decent film in which the performances are the best part. The script, unfortunately, doesn't live up every time. Although the first two acts navigate the delicate territory of representing an existence as an addict well, the third reaches exaggerated, predictable, and somewhat problematic levels, leaving the exploration of the topic on a superficial level. And although the story overstays its welcome, the team that Pugh and Freeman make allows you to get to the end.

(Mauro Lanari) With some frequency, films with a lenitive intent come out, which seek to replace oxycodone with a support similar to that provided by AMA groups or rehab centers. More rarely they don't get stuck in the shallows of authoriality or blackmail. During the Covid period Zach Braff began to write, direct and act with his then girlfriend Florence Pugh a drama that can be of relief for those who are experiencing pain, suffering, mourning. It takes skill and he proves that he has it.

Zach Braff made a film almost two decades ago that gave him some credit in indie circles. A credit that has worked for him so far. I never thought much of Garden State, but that's really the least of it, the issue here is that Braff even with two more films on his resume as a director seems to have learned very few lessons and that's reflected in his weathered conventionalism. A Good Person isn't a parade of clichés, but rather a ritual of familiar symptoms to which he cannot imprint an identity that would evoke the key points of a drama of this kind, which are honesty and empathy. If it fails to connect the audience with emotions, it will hardly achieve anything. Even when the audience knows in advance that you are manipulating them to do so. Florence Pugh has the talent to move the material forward, and while that doesn't save the whole project for her former partner, it does at least provide him with two important things. One that the film won't die in obscurity and two that the experience will not be too disappointing. Beyond that, you're not missing out on anything particularly valuable.

bad [ bad ] adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36. not good in any manner or degree.