Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

kumanoir This is a quiet movie that builds in power over time. It's a slice of life movie, but much more. It tells a story of how powerful the need to escape can be, but how this need, by its very strength, can make you its slave. The cast is amazing, and the pacing is hypnotic. The leads are perfect and totally engrossing. Often movies like this skimp on plot, but I was very satisfied the movie has a very interesting plot twist 2/3rd through, that makes you reevaluate everything you've seen so far. Yet this twist is completely organic to the story, not something thrown in from outside. Very deftly handled. Well done. Though I don't know why Canadians have to pretend their movies take place in the US, when they take place in Manitoba.

MBunge This film serves no constructive or productive purpose. Writer/director Steve Berra might have thought he had a good reason for telling this story. For all I know, there was such a reason, at least at some point in production. After watching The Good Life, however, I can find no justification or rationale for its existence. It's well enough made for what it is, but it never answers the most fundamental questions about itself. Why should people watch this movie? Why should they care about anything that happens? What is the viewer supposed to get out of it?Jason Prayer (Mark Webber) is a 20something kid living in Nebraska. He's worked the last 7 years as a gas station attendant. He's also the main support for his broken down mother (Deborah Rush) and Gus (Harry Dean Stanton), the owner of the old movie theater where Jason also works. Gus suffers from Alzheimer's or just has a profound aversion to pants. Either way, he's even more dependent on Jason than his mom. Jason is harassed by Tad Tokas (Chris Klein), another 20something Nebraskan who's so angry at life he can barely contain it, and romanced by Frances (Zooey Deschannel), a pretty young woman who latches onto him like a lovesick lamprey and then breaks his heart to soothe her upper middle class unhappiness. Jason also suffers from an immune disorder that causes all of his hair to fall out. Oh, and his dad just died and left him a present which Jason refused to open. Needless to say, The Good Life is not exactly a laugh riot.There's something vaguely resembling a plot at work here but honestly, this story is about how Jason's life sucks and keeps on sucking until falling into an ending that's supposed to teach us something about the resiliency of the human spirit or some such claptrap. Outside of a skimpy, unformed and ill thought out analysis of the sociological importance of college football in Nebraska, which comes off as the remnants of a more significant element in an early draft of the script, The Good Life does nothing but ask us to genuflect before the quiet desperation of Jason Prayer. To which I can only respond...why should I give a crap?It's a simple query that far too few indy filmmakers ask themselves. Why should I give a crap about Jason Prayer? Why should I give a crap about how his life has turned out? Why should I give a crap that he's unhappy? Jason takes care of his mom and Gus, proving he's a basically decent person, but so what? Why should I care more about Jason than Andrew (Patrick Fugit), his friend and fellow gas station attendant? Particularly when Andrew demonstrates a sense of humor about the poor state of his life, compared to Jason's sullen and somber stoicism. Why should I care more about Jason than the tormenting Tad? Even though Tad is cast as the villain and has far less time on screen, Chris Klein powerfully demonstrates though Tad's disturbingly aggressive behavior that his life sucks and he's just as unhappy or more so than Jason.Writer/director Berra failed to do the most basic sort of storytelling to try and make me people care about Jason. The most obvious way to generate sympathy or empathy for such a character is to show the audience what he's given up or lost to end up where he is. It's not enough to stick Jason with two menial jobs and a couple of near helpless adults. You've got to let the audience see the opportunities Jason has lost by being dragged down with such responsibilities. It's that unfairness, that injustice, that mirror image of the audience's own lost possibilities that people will respond to. There's none of that in this movie. Yes, Jason's life is hard and disappointing. So what? There's never a second when you get the impression that Jason could ever be more than what he is if his life had turned out differently. I'm sure Berra felt some connection to his main character. He never builds such a connection between Jason and the folks watching The Good Life.There is a point where the lovely Zooey Deschannel takes her shirt off and a topless Zooey would have been all the reason in the world for this film to exist. Her hands cover up her breasts the entire time though, which makes it feel like Berra is just screwing with viewers.Outside of an awkward and cumbersome plot thread about Judy Garland, The Good Life is written with a certain amount of intelligence. The acting is perfectly fine and the direction is unobjectionable. I just can't think of any reason why anyone should spend their time and money to watch this film. There's nothing for anyone to get out of it.

Adam Donaghey Given there's already quite a number of reviews of The Good Life--it did play at Sundance, after all, I'm not going to discuss the plot of the film, except to briefly say that it's a film about the suffering and isolation of one man, Jason, in a town he's trapped in for all the wrong reasons. He is surrounded by deceitful and manipulative individuals who do nothing but bring him down and pull him further and further into desolation. That is, except for his one true friend, Gus, an old man who owns a neighborhood theater. The film deals with themes and perspectives and actions viewers don't typically find appealing on screen--and it is largely depressing. Reviews are mixed for this film, as to be expected. Some find the film hopeful or inspiring at the end--I just see it as survival.The well-fleshed out characters in this gloomy tale are all impressively played. Mark Webber's performance as Jason is incredibly riveting and believable. As for Chris Klein, I agree with some critics who believe this might be his best role yet. Zooey Deschanel manipulates me into loving her once again. Bill Paxton's character is quirky and odd and gay, and Bill pulls it off perfectly. Gus, however, is probably my favorite character. I kept looking over at Harry Dean Stanton, who gives a heartfelt performance as a dying man, wondering, as the film progressed, how he felt watching himself play this character--at his age--and how it effects him. Of course, he's far more active than Gus...(on my blog there was a picture of Harry Dean waving his hands in the theater at the audience, announcing "I am not a crook.")Professional skateboarder Stephen Berra has written and directed a truly important film, built on decent story and cemented together with remarkable performances from the actors. Berra's portrait of small town America manufactures a painful environment which grabs the viewer by the throat. The film doesn't necessarily say anything new or even profound for that matter, but it's certainly an emotional experience I won't soon forget.

Kelly I saw this one at the AFI Dallas festival..The story of a young guy who has a very bad family environment, a medical condition and an attitude toward football, all of which serve to alienate him from his surroundings. He works at a gas station and helps out at an old movie theater. He tries to keep the bills paid at home, where he lives with his mother, but he doesn't always succeed. Stephen Berra, a pro skateboarder writes and directs, and from what he said after the movie, you'll be seeing more of his work. Mark Webber (Jesus' Son, Broken Flowers) stars with Zooey Deschanel (Trillian in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) Harry Dean Stanton and Bill Paxton. Webber is very real and sympathetic and Zooey does a good job as the almost angelic and quite strange Frances. A moving, intimate film.