From the pleasingly ironic title to the spot-on central performances, this film tips a small-town life upside down and inspects, with a sardonic eye, the bleak tumbling contents. It reminds me a little of a Mike Leigh film transposed to America. The whole film's tone is very dark and dead-pan, blackly bleakly humorous, and notable for being Jennifer Aniston's great escape from the enduring hell of the doomed Friends cast. She's surprisingly good as Justine, the bored wife of the title, kicking at the bars of her cage, finding out that the door may be just turn out to be another cage. Jake Gyllenhaal is surely going to be one of the standout actors of his generation. He does another convincing job here as volatile Holden, in what is essentially a role that merely drives the plot forwards for our 'heroine'. John C Reilly is excellent in a thankless, low-key role as the doped-up unimaginative hubby. Senor Tuna, anyone? Everybody's trying to escape.
This is no chick flick, and will probably only be enjoyed by those with a pretty dark or dry sense of humour. While Justine may not always be likable, she is certainly very fallible, very human. You'd have to be fairly saintly not to feel some compassion for her mounting predicaments, even while laughing, or feeling increasing detachment or even revulsion as you watch the steps she takes to overcome them. Aniston and Gylenhaal generate very feeling chemistry in their scenes together; but the tender moments give way to an increasingly sad and literal struggle for Justine to keep her head above water. There's no ultimate triumph, only a vivid sense of how far a human being is prepared to go to survive. Subtle direction, nice underplaying by the cast and a well realised sense of place, all in all a very likable, left-of-field film.
This is no chick flick, and will probably only be enjoyed by those with a pretty dark or dry sense of humour. While Justine may not always be likable, she is certainly very fallible, very human. You'd have to be fairly saintly not to feel some compassion for her mounting predicaments, even while laughing, or feeling increasing detachment or even revulsion as you watch the steps she takes to overcome them. Aniston and Gylenhaal generate very feeling chemistry in their scenes together; but the tender moments give way to an increasingly sad and literal struggle for Justine to keep her head above water. There's no ultimate triumph, only a vivid sense of how far a human being is prepared to go to survive. Subtle direction, nice underplaying by the cast and a well realised sense of place, all in all a very likable, left-of-field film.