Title: A Good Person
Release Date: March 24, 2023
Director: Zach Braff
Production Company: Killer Films | Elevation Pictures
Summary/Review:
Allison (Florence Pugh) and Nathan (Chinaza Uche) are engaged to be married. On a shopping trip with her future sister-in-law and her husband, Allison crashes her car killing both her passengers. A year later, Allison is living with her mother Diane (Molly Shannon), and dealing with grief, trauma, and most especially an addiction to OxyContin.
Meanwhile, Nathan’s father Daniel (Morgan Freeman), himself a recovering alcoholic, has taken in his 16-year-old granddaughter Ryan (Celeste O’Connor). They both struggle mightily. When Allison appears at Daniel’s 12-step-program meeting it is as awkward as you would expect. But the friendship they form begins to help them heal.
This movie does rely on the cliches you’ve seen in every TV movie about recovery. Writer/director Zach Braff loves to lean into cliches and dramatic moments, although he deploys them more deftly here than in Garden State. But I can’t resist an indie drama starring Florence Pugh, and Ms. Flo’s performance here is amazing and Freeman is quite excellent as well. For a flawed film about flawed people, it’s not that bad.
Rating: ***1/2
Panorama of the Mountains 