Florence Pugh, who had a relationship with the forty-something Braff that most of social media didn\u2019t approve of, stars as Allison, a piano-playing pharmaceutical rep who\u2019s in an annoyingly loving relationship with fiance Nathan (Chinaza Uche). That relationship gets destroyed in the movie\u2019s first ten minutes, when Allison is driving with Nathan\u2019s sister and brother-in-law and they get in a car accident that leaves Allison injured and her passengers dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cut to a year later. A single Allison is living back home with her mother (Molly Shannon), broke, heavily addicted to Oxycontin, and riding all over Jersey on a bike. (Braff gets a lot of wide shots of Pugh cutting a corner and riding emotionally, usually set to some emo song.) After briefly smoking heroin with some riffraff she dismissed in high school, she decides to get some help and attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. That\u2019s where she bumps into Nathan\u2019s estranged father Daniel (Morgan Freeman), a former cop who\u2019s been dying to take a drink ever since he got custody of his teenage granddaughter (Celeste O\u2019Connor), who\u2019s been lashing out hella hard ever since her parents died. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, they\u2019re still in a movie where their characters make stupid decisions, whether they\u2019re under the influence or not. Pugh is mostly in a self-loathing stupor, medicating herself heavily while the other characters are seemingly nonplussed by the fact she takes drugs because she\u2019s forever haunted by her horrible mistake. (As funny as it is watching the always lovable Shannon get wine-drunk and try to convince Pugh to go on Shark Tank<\/em> with her, Shannon\u2019s playful frivolousness seems out of place here.) Freeman plays a disciplinarian with a cruel streak, pretending to be sanctimonious when he\u2019s just as fucked-up as his ex-future-daughter-in-law. (A scene of an inebriated, gun-wielding Freeman gives Pugh a dressing-down has to be the most pot-calling-the-kettle-black scene I\u2019ve ever seen in a movie.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n There could\u2019ve been a smarter, more serio-comic way for Braff to handle this story of pain, regret, and loss. Sadly, he goes the histrionic, TV-movie route. It\u2019s like Braff saw Manchester by the Sea<\/em> and decided not to do any of that shit. But even though Braff had Pugh crying and acting miserable, I can\u2019t help thinking she still had a better time with her ex than she did working under Olivia Wilde during Don\u2019t Worry Darling<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n “A Good Person” is in theaters Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/good-person2-1024x682.jpg\")
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Person<\/em> is just wall-to-wall agony, with Pugh getting the brunt of it. There\u2019s something a bit weird about Braff writing and directing a movie where his ex-girlfriend plays someone who goes through a shitload of grief for accidentally killing two people and having the audacity to abuse drugs to dull the pain. (Braff doesn\u2019t even deal with the whole racial aspect of it, as Pugh\u2019s lily-white protagonist spends most of Person<\/em> doing more harm than good to this dark-skinned family.) Her character starts hanging out with Freeman\u2019s fellow tortured soul, a man who did a lot of horrible shit while under the influence. The scenes of Pugh and Freeman getting to know each other\u2019s struggles are the best parts of the movie; their characters bond over the common ground \u2014 a regretful sadness \u2014 they both have.<\/p>\n\n\n\nD+<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n