# The Good Girl

The Good Girl is a 2002 American drama film about a discount store clerk who strikes up an affair with a stock boy who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.
    Directed by Miguel Arteta. Written by Mike White.

## Justine Last

* [to Holden] I was looking at you in the store and I liked how you kept to yourself. I saw in your eyes that you hate the world. I hate it too.
* After living in the dark for so long, a glimpse of the light can make you giddy. Strange thoughts come into your head and you'd better think 'em. Has a special fate been calling you and you're not listening? Is there a secret message right in front of you and you're not reading it? Is this your last best chance? Are you going to take it? Or are you going to the grave with unlived lives in your veins?
* You're a writer so you have yourself a goal, I guess. I used to, you know, lay in bed and imagine other cities, other jobs I could have; other husbands. Now I don't even know what to imagine anymore.
* As a girl you see the world as a giant candy store filled with sweet candy and such. But one day you look around and you see a prison and you're on death row. You wanna run or scream or cry but something's locking you up. Are the other folks cows chewing cud until the hour comes when their heads roll? Or are they just keeping quiet like you, planning their escape.
* How it all came down to this, only the Devil knows. Retail Rodeo is at the corner on my left. The motel is down the road to my right. I close my eyes and try to peer into the future. On my left, I saw days upon days of lipstick and ticking clocks, dirty looks and quiet whisperings. And burning secrets that just won't ever die away. And on my right, what could I picture? The blue sky, the desert earth, stretching out into the eerie infinity. A beautiful never-ending nothing.
* I thought if I died today what would happen to me? A hateful girl... A selfish girl... An adulteress... A liar.

## Thomas 'Holden' Worther

* [in a letter] Dear Justine, because of you I'll be quitting the Retail Rodeo. The last two days have been the most godawful of my life. I have not been able to get rid of you in my head. I'll never want anything so bad, and I've wanted many things. I'd given up long ago on being 'gotten' by someone else, and then you came along. The idea that I could be gotten because of circumstance, or never get got, is the worst feeling I've ever felt, and I have felt many bad feelings. I'm sorry I can never see you again Justine, forgive me for being so weak, but that's who I am. Goodbye, Holden. If for some reason, you could change your mind and wanna be with me, body and soul, meet me after work. I will be waiting for you at 5pm outside Chuckie Cheese. If you are not there at five, you will never see me again in your lifetime.

## Cheryl

* Attention, shoppers. There's a Retail Rodeo special on aisle 3. Liquid Drain Cleaner, 2 12-ounce cans for $5.00. Liquid Drain Cleaner has churning power and it will churn right through your pipes. Ladies, you need female plumbing. Shove something clean and new up your filthy pipes. That's Liquid Drain Cleaner on aisle 3. Have a good day and thank you for shopping at Retail Rodeo.

## Others

* Corny: It's a church. You can't make water without bumping your nut on a bible.
* Jack Field: Holden was a thief and a disturbed young man and what happened was a sad thing. Perhaps we can learn a lesson from this tragedy like don't steal and don't be disturbed.

## Dialogue

    Justine: They call you Tom?
    Holden: It's my slave name.
    Justine: Whatcha readin'?
    Holden: Catcher in the Rye... I'm named after it.
    Justine: What's your name?
    [Holden stares at her blankly]
    Justine: Catcher?
    Justine: Gwen says smoking marijuana lowers your sperm.
    Phil: Lowers it to where?
    Justine: Maybe you're the infertile one around here. Maybe every time you smoke a little doobie, you're killing our unborn children.
    Cheryl: Sit right down here, ma'am. We're going to make you pretty. Now how do you like your hair?
    Big Haired Woman: What? Are you going to do my hair?
    Cheryl: No, I just need to know if that's your usual way of wearing it, all big and high. If it is, I'll just put more makeup on your chin to offset it. You're going to want to take a whole bottle of this home with you. It's got quite a lot of ingredients in it, so you're getting a good deal. It's got ginkgo extract in it. Do you know what that is?
    Big Haired Woman: No.
    Cheryl: It's extract of the ginkgo, and it makes your skin real slick so that any liquid will roll right off you, be it water, or lemon juice, or urine. I'll put it in a bag for you.
    Corny: You got any interest in reading the Bible?
    Justine: I have my own, you know, beliefs.
    Corny: Well, we don't preach fire and brimstone. Ten Commandments, gotta live by those. Other than the usual ways, we're not interested in scaring people. We're about loving Jesus.
    Justine: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I kind of like my nights to myself.
    Corny: Well, maybe you'll have night after night of eternal hellfire all to yourself. Just kidding you. Drive safe. Bye-bye.
    Cheryl: You didn't bring this into the store with you?
    Heavy Set Woman: No.
    Cheryl: Then I'll go ahead and charge you for it. This is a hand lotion, so don't put it on any other part of your body, even if that part needs lubrication. We try to keep frivolous lawsuits to a minimum, unless, of course, the customer is at fault.
    Holden: I crave you! I wanna know everything about you. Who are you?
    Justine: I'm just this woman.

## Cast

* Jennifer Aniston - Justine Last
* Jake Gyllenhaal - Thomas "Holden" Worther
* John C. Reilly - Phil Last
* John Carroll Lynch - Jack Field
* Tim Blake Nelson - Bubba
* Zooey Deschanel - Cheryl
* Mike White - Corny
* Deborah Rush - Gwen Jackson
* Aimee Garcia - Nurse

## External links

* The Good Girl quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* The Good Girl at Rotten Tomatoes