Movies

Jennifer Aniston excels as small town cashier, stifled in a rudderless marriage and miserable at her boring job, who has an affair with a younger co-worker, leading to a series of confounding personal events. Black comedy is initially bright and biting, subtle about its comedic elements and characters while gently satirizing the middle class aesthetic. Unfortunately, the film takes a wrong turn late in the second-half and never quite recovers, leading to an emotionally unsatisfying finish. The performers are all terrific, especially John C. Reilly as Aniston's pot-smoking husband; but, as the screenplay loses steam so do the actors, and the final events are mechanically offbeat--engineered to be quirky. **1/2 from ****

This movie is great, in my opinion, because its so misunderstood. Its so simple! The dialogue is not heavy, but it is perfectly articulated and emotional, and delivered brilliantly by Jennifer Aniston, who really shines as Justine, a small town girl who wants to get away from the monotony of life. Jake Gyllenhaal's role as a Holden Caulfield wannabe is well pulled off. I particularly liked how depressingly un attractive his drunken dramas were. You could see so many emotions in Justine, trying to ignore what she didn't like about him, trying to find something to love about him. Though my all time favourite aspect of the movie is the painfully realistic awkward sex and kissing. With an extreme but none the less effective ending, I'd easily give this film a biased 9/10! A little slice of real life, for a change.

Justine Last (Jennifer Aniston) is a 30 years old worker at a discount store and tired of her life. Her husband Phil (John C. Reilly) is always smoking weed with his friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson). Co-worker Gwen Jackson (Deborah Rush) is her best friend. She starts an affair with young co-worker Holden Worther (Jake Gyllenhaal). Religious Corny (Mike White), manager Jack Field (John Carroll Lynch) and Cheryl (Zooey Deschanel) are the other workers.This is most notable for Jennifer Aniston breaking away from her good girl character from Friends. It's a much needed role against type and she's amazing at it. Gyllenhaal overacts a little but it's fine for his role. Justine is a great morally murky character.