A Good Person: Dramatic irony

A Good Person (2023) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, for profanity, drug use and sexual candor

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 3.24.23

I cannot imagine the mental and emotional anguish of survivor’s guilt.

 

But Florence Pugh certainly conveys it persuasively, in this three-hanky melodrama.

 

Allie (Florence Pugh) is genuinely touched when Daniel (Morgan Freeman) shares his
model railroad depiction of their New Jersey community.

Writer/director Zach Braff’s film runs a bit too long, and he arguably lards the third act with one reckless transgression too many. That said, viewers may be inclined to forgive that excess, given the strong performances which take us to that point.

Following a quiet overview of a marvelously detailed basement toy train layout, accompanied by Morgan Freeman’s thoughtful voice-over, the story opens on a cheerfully rowdy pre-wedding gathering. Everybody has had a bit too much to drink — or smoke — while singer/songwriter Allison (Pugh) gamely performs one of her tunes on piano.

 

After the guests disperse, she and fiancé Nathan (Chinaza Uche) enjoy some quality quiet time, displaying the flirty, playfully sexy nature of their relationship.

 

(At which point, I glanced at Constant Companion — both of us having watched far too many movies, and therefore feeling that we’re being set up for some sort of catastrophe — and muttered, “Okay, when’s the penny gonna drop?”)

 

The following morning, Allie — as she prefers to be called — Nathan’s sister Molly (Nichelle Hines) and her husband leave their New Jersey neighborhood, intending to spend the day in Manhattan: trying on dresses, then taking in a play. As it’s a school day, their teenage daughter, Ryan (Celeste O’Connor), has been left behind with her grandfather, Daniel (Freeman).

 

The car chatter is lively; Allie’s eyes — she’s driving — keep straying from the freeway. She then worsens the situation by pulling out her phone, to check a map reference.

 

What happens next occurs very quickly. Braff, bless him, cuts to sharp black.

 

Our first glimpse of Braff’s delicate touch with deeply emotional scenes — and dialogue — comes next. Daniel, in the process of dropping Ryan off at school, gets The Phone Call. Freeman plays the scene wholly by the reaction in his gaze; we don’t hear the other end of the conversation. Then, the call concluded — sinking further into shock by the second — Daniel encourages Ryan to have a good day at school.

 

He gives the girl those precious few more hours of “normal,” before her life is ripped apart.

 

Allie, badly injured, wakens in a hospital bed. Nathan and her mother, Diane (Molly Shannon), are present. A police officer enters the room; chaos ensues.

 

Molly and her husband died in the crash; Allie survived.