A Good Person

Director: Zach Braff
Starring: Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Celeste O' Connor, Molly Shannon, Chinaza Uche, Zoe Lister-Jones, Nichelle Hines, Toby Onwumere, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Oli Green, Alex Wolff, Brian Rojas, Ryann Redmond, Sydney Morton
Running Time: 129 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

Getting past the generic title and fairly familiar premise, there's a lot that works in writer/director Zach Braff's A Good Person. While it's been nearly twenty years since Garden State polarized moviegoers,  the former Scrubs star continues to take a thrashing for it, with detractors complaining he hasn't done enough differently behind the camera to change minds or win over the uninitiated. But despite preconceived notions, Braff clearly has a lane, knows the type of film he wants to make and remains competent at it. 

Preconceived notions aside, if the temptation exists to belittle this small-scale human drama as schmaltzy or Hallmark-like, it's really no better or worse than the similarly themed A Man Called Otto, if maybe even a little less sentimental. And the biggest reason why are the performances, particularly Florence Pugh's. The movie isn't exactly be a departure, but her lead turn is, further building on all the promise she's consistently shown since first breaking through.

Just as pharmaceutical sales rep Allison Johnson (Pugh) prepares to marry to longtime boyfriend Nathan (Chinaza Uche), a tragic car accident leads to the death of his sister Molly (Nichelle Hines) and her husband Jesse (Toby Onwumere). Allison, who was driving, suffers serious injuries as a result, leading to pain pill addiction and severe depression. Now a year later, she's broken up with Nathan and living with her concerned mother, Diane (Molly Shannon). As Nathan tries to move on, he and Molly's ex-cop father Daniel (Morgan Freeman) takes in Molly's teen daughter Ryan (Celeste O'Connor), who's acting out in school and still unable to process the loss of her mom.  

A strung-out Allison panics after accidentally encountering Daniel at a therapy group, but reluctantly agrees to stay at his urging, as the two form a tentative friendship. A recovering alcoholic with a shameful past, he still blames Allison for the accident but views helping her get clean as a challenge. Unfortunately, Daniel's problems with Ryan worsen as Allison's guilt and self loathing over the crash send her spiraling out of control. Until both come to terms with past mistakes, there's little chance they'll be able to piece back together the fragments of their shattered lives.

As opioid addict Allison, a profusely sweating Pugh, complete with a moppy haircut and baggy clothes, gives a performance that deserves far more attention than it's gotten. And had it come in any project other than one with Braff's name attached, everyone would probably be raving about it. Similar to her recent work in Don't Worry Darling, she proves capable of single-handedly carrying and elevating material that wouldn't connect with lesser actresses in those roles, even overcoming a few questionable creative calls along the way. 

While this doesn't have as many problems as you'd think, we know where it's going, leaving much of the heavy lifting to Pugh and Freeman.To Braff's credit, he doesn't get much wrong and just lets the them do their thing since they're great together. And Pugh's transformation from promising, optimistic pre-crash Allison into a flailing, self-destructive mess results in some memorable scenes, like a bar encounter with a pair of high school classmates or an extremely uncomfortable trip to the pharmacy.

The closer Allison and Daniel become, the worse their respective situations seem to get, with both petrified to face their demons head-on. She's definitely responsible for the accident and pushing Nathan away, but we quickly find out Daniel wasn't exactly father of the year. Fearing he'll fall off the wagon, there's good reason to believe the rage and pain has less to do with Allison's culpability in the accident than his regretful past. It seems like years since we've seen Freeman in a major role like this and he predictably knocks it out of the park, again enveloping us with his wise, all-knowing presence, only with some slightly rougher edges this go-around. 

Some will decry it as simplistically obvious symbolism, but there's a tidy subplot involving Daniel's train set that's effective in conveying the story's theme, largely because Braff wisely picks his spots and doesn't clobber us with it. The same could be said for Allison's singing, a detail enhanced by Pugh actually being a talented singer, making the character's aspiring musical career a better fit than it otherwise would. Of course, everything leads to Allison eventually coming face-to-face with the rebellious Ryan, with the latter finally getting her chance to confront the woman who inadvertently destroyed her world.

The complicated relationship between Allison and Ryan may be what the script handles best, with Celeste O'Connor bringing a surprising amount of depth to the angry teen. An understated Chinaza Uche is equally good as Nathan, dragged back into Allison's life a year after the tragedy while also confronting long unresolved issues with his father. And Molly Shannon again stretches her comedic muscles in a drama, stealing scenes as Allison's mom, who attempts to administer tough love in the face of a maternal instinct to smother with sensitivity.

Even as the story lands on its feet, a party sequence in the last act gets a bit overwrought in a film that mostly steers clear of theatrics. It's also sort of perplexing how little attention is given to the fact that Molly's husband died in the crash too, with Jesse's existence basically shoved under the rug. Still, for all that happens, A Good Person is almost downright restrained, resulting in what could be Braff's most assured directorial outing yet. And considering how far off the rails potentially melodramatic material like this can go, that in itself warrants a small round of applause.