A Good Person

'A Good Person' tackles challenging themes of grief, addiction, and family struggles as Allison's entire life is uprooted from a tragic accident.

The highlight of the film is definitely the acting from the two lead characters. Pugh delivers a standout performance and manages to perfectly express the pent-up emotional state of Allison as she tries to rebuild her life. Freeman also does a great job at depicting a torn character who is wrestling with an internal struggle of blame. The camera work and soundtrack enhance the performances, so together, they elevate the films emotional impact, and it hits hard.

It's a shame to see critic reviews bash on the film. I agree it wasn't a perfect film. Yes, it runs a tad long. Yes, the story isn't anything new. And yes, there are a few plot points that feel out of place and a bit preachy.

But ultimately, for me, these issues were overshadowed by the raw emotion the movie evokes. It expertly weaves together complex characters that don't fall into simple "good" and "bad" buckets. The story is simple but relatable. Almost anyone, from all walks of life, can find a moment that they've been in or struggled with. And even through all that, the script manages to stay poignant, yet weave in moments of charm and comedy.

Just got back from watching this and I found it a very moving, if rather sad and tragic story.

Morgan Freeman adds his charismatic presence to any film he is in, and this is no exception with 'A Good Person'. Combined with a great performance from Pugh they really 'nail' the intensity of the tragedy.

A story of one brief moment of inattention leads to a tragedy that ripples out to many others. An aftermath of grief and blame and addictions . In part rather gritty although to a degree rather neat and tidy portrayals of addictions.

I found it a great story and I was riveted for the whole 129minutes, which passed in a blink.

I'd give this film a very solid 7.5/10 and well worth the price of a cinema ticket.

Would I watch it again? Actually probably not, i'm glad I watched it once and certainly well worth a watch, but the subject matter is rather to depressing for me to watch it again.

I found myself falling in and out of love with this film. At times it is very punchy and powerful and full of gut wrenching emotion. But too often these moments surrender to more formulaic story beats and slightly cliche and over the top drama. The result is a strong film, but I can't help but think an opportunity was missed.

Narratively I think there are a few missteps that detract from the emotion of the whole piece. It gets bogged down in the Morgan Freeman angle of the story which takes the focus away from the more compelling Florence Pugh angle. This makes the whole thing a little bloated, which weakens some of its emotional punches. It is a strong story and still very emotional nonetheless, but it fails to fully get into some of the interesting issues it raises.

The story may not blow you away, but the lead performance definitely will. I might as well just prepare some boiler plate text for any reviews I write for a Florence Pugh film as she is always brilliant. In every film I see her in every second she is off screen seems like a second wasted. There are so many moments in this film where you feel like it is just you and her as she connects you to the character and the story in such a masterful way. Well worth seeing this film for her alone.

Despite not quite living up to my expectation, A Good Person is a solidly good film. Pugh shines in a powerfully written role, but the whole piece could have done with a little more refinement.

Leave it to funnyman Zach Braff to play a subtle joke on all of us: casually and quietly dropping a superbly-written, powerfully-acted emotional gut-punch of a film the same day that we also get the gleeful carnage-fest that is John Wick 4. What a good weekend for movies this is turning out to be.

A Good Person tells a story of addiction recovery that has certainly been done many times before, but rarely do we ever see it done with this much tact, wit, and genuine power.

Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman both arguably give some of their finest performances here, with Pugh bleeding raw grief and Freeman sporting visible scars of grief so convincingly. Their friendly chemistry is tangible and compulsively watchable. If they were all this movie had to rely on, they would carry it easily.

Thankfully, though, the film also has the finest screenplay I've seen this year. The dialogue has an engaging charm to it but never loses its authenticity, carrying character development for EVERY character effortlessly and subtly through natural conversation.

When writing a comedy about a topic as bleak as this, it's very difficult to balance tones, but Braff makes it look easy. His film switches quickly between heart-wrenching and gut-bustingly funny many times within a scene, and often blends these tones together while never once coming across as insensitive or mean-spirited.

Braff clearly cares about his characters, and wants us to find the humor in their situations because he loves them and wants them to be happy.

My only complaint, if it even is a complaint, is that I found the ending to be a little too...nice, easy, and clean. A little bow gets wrapped on top of the ending of an emotional rollercoaster of a story and it seemed like the only contrived part of an otherwise beautifully authentic tale of recovery through genuine purpose.

To start, I LOVE Florence Pugh. She had me at Midsommer and I've been a huge fan since. She definitely was the amazing talent in this movie. I chose my title because, as many of you probably do, you scroll through the other posts and then come up with your own take and THIS MOVIE - is one that is much better if your life has been somewhere close to where Allie's (Pugh) life took her. This is a story of grief, guilt, love, hate - it really runs the gamut. Admittedly, the story doesn't bring anything new to the table but I don't think it has to. I believe that when you can see yourself through Allie's story - it's pretty gripping. How did Allison Janney say it in 'The Help' - 'love and hate are two ends of the same horse'? I guess you're going to love this movie or hate it. As a woman of 50+ years that has had my own rocky road, I'm blown away at how well FP acts out the character of Allie. She's so young and it usually takes real life trauma to unearth those acting chops.

I vote you watch this. Zach Braff (director) punched out a great story.