A Detailed Review of Zach Braff’s ‘A Good Person’: An Exploration of Despair in Jersey

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Filmmakers are so fortunate to have Florence Pugh in their movies. She always gives a fantastic performance and no matter what kind of movie she is doing (even a bad one!), her acting makes her part impossible to ignore. Of course, the quality of the movie matters, but Florence’s amazing tolerance really stands out.

In “A Good Person” by Zach Braff, Allison Pugh is a twentysomething from New Jersey who has her life change in an instant. While she was headed out to buy a wedding dress in the city, Allison is involved in an accident that kills her soon-to-be brother-in-law and sister-in-law and also makes her addicted to painkillers.

Actor Zach Braff wrote a part in a movie especially for his then-girlfriend, who was 21 years older than him. They were together for three years and many people talked about their age difference, which she defended. Unfortunately, last year they broke up quietly.

In the past few years, actor and movie director Braff has gone through tough times due to the loss of loved ones, including his sister and father, as well as one of his best friends. His debut film “Garden State” was quite popular with a certain group of “white hipster” people even though it may be seen differently nowadays.

At 45 years old, Braff is starting a new project. He wants to make a movie about grief and all the difficult feelings that go with it, like sadness, guilt, coping with addiction, and forgiving ourselves even when we make mistakes. It’s called “A Good Person”.

The movie takes us to a familiar place (New Jersey) and some other topics (feeling bored and taking painkillers). It also covers a broader group of people. Even though the writing and acting were done very well, it’s still confusing why the director is telling this story about these people in particular.

Allison is about to marry Nathan, who’s family is quite complicated. He has a dad called Daniel who fought in the Vietnam War, is a police officer and hasn’t had a drink for ten years. In addition to this, they are also looking after his niece named Ryan who has been left an orphan since she lost both her parents. As one would expect of any teenage however, she struggles to cope with such a loss which makes it difficult for Nathan and Daniel who are trying their best to look after her.

“A Good Person” is a movie made by Dan Fogelman. It’s similar to his other movies that have had both good and bad reviews, such as “This Is Us” and “Life Itself.” “A Good Person” does better than “Life Itself,” but it still tries too hard for people to feel the emotion in it. This can make it feel forced or fake.

Allison is a great role for an actor to play. The writer of the character seemed to love Allison and wrote her in such a way that allowed actress Pugh to do many different things; like cry, sing a popular song, be funny or sad, appear crazy, be selfish or likable in certain moments.

Allison went to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and saw Daniel there. Even though she wanted to leave, he convinced her to stay. They became friends and over time shared some nice moments together, even though both of them had been dealing with sadness and guilt in their own lives. Things take a strange turn when Allison and Ryan make a poor choice by getting involved with each other. There is also something about a model train set that ties into the story too.

The main character of “A Good Person” often feels sad and upset. So, she tries to quickly recover from this feeling in an exaggerated and unrealistic way with a montage and music. There are cliches like a woman cutting her hair while looking in the mirror as well as strange moments when it seems like something inappropriate happened. The end of the story seems forced and not quite perfect for a full-length movie. Also, Molly Shannon plays the mom of the main character and Zoe Lister-Jones is her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor.

Though some parts don’t make much sense, there is still enough interesting stuff happening to keep you entertained. At the end of the day, everyone wants to be reassured that it’s never too late for a fresh start, asking for forgiveness, forgiving others or being open with one another.

A Good Person, a movie in theaters this Friday, is only for those aged 17 or older. If you are younger than 17, you will need to be accompanied by an adult when watching this movie. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) gave it a rating of R due to its content of drug abuse, sexual references and language. The running time of the movie is 125 minutes – two and half stars out of four. Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr