Who’s In It: Alexis Bledel, Scott Porter, Bryan Greenberg, Andrew McCarthy, Anna Chlumsky, Aaron Yoo, Trini Alvarado, Colin Egglesfield, Jessalyn Wanlim
The Basics: Hotshot Wall Street trader Tommy Fielding (Scott Porter) is handsome, wealthy, and ambitious – in other words, a perfect catch, if you like your men slick, metrosexual, and a tad douchebaggy. He’s the kind of guy every single lady in New York would like to find… or is he? Tommy’s girlfriend, nice gal Beth (Alexis Bledel), thinks she’s bagged the best boy in Manhattan; that is, until Tommy’s wholesome co-worker Daniel (Bryan Greenberg) comes into the picture. Dating, bonding, betrayal, bromantic makeovers and estrogen-fueled book clubs ensue, leading Beth to reevaluate which guy is best for her.
What’s The Deal: First-time writer-director Julio DePietro makes an admirable effort to do something fresh in his directorial debut, which opens at the end of Tommy’s story and flashes back to show us how exactly he landed in the doghouse, alone on Beth’s doorstep and soaking wet in the middle of an emotionally thematic thunderstorm. It’s clear that DePietro (who switched careers from investment banking to filmmaking) has sympathy for the mentality of ambitious and money-driven male yuppiedom, as evidenced by the way he first idealizes, then makes tragic, the plight of his validation-seeking protagonist. But despite some amusing asides on the joys and perils of dating in the iPhone age, The Good Guy is too concerned with its jerk of a hero than the nice girl who deserves better. (Note to the director: understanding the egotistical psyches of the jerks we’ve dated is the last thing any female moviegoer wants to do.)
Another Way To Read It, In Gilmore Girls Terms: Imagine that Alexis Bledel’s best-known alter ego, Rory Gilmore, has moved to New York City after college to become an urban conservationist. Sensitive and intelligent, she’s swept off her feet by a Logan Huntzberger type, but she really belongs with the guy who has the harmless personality of Dean Forester but the book smarts of Jess Mariano. Now subtract that feisty, independent Gilmore spirit and you’ve basically got the sorta-bland Beth, the type of girl who dreams of traveling to Italy and gets bikini waxes with her BFFs and reads books like Lolita and waits patiently for days for her boyfriend to call. Lorelei Gilmore would not approve.
How It’s Like A Book Club: The Good Guy wants desperately for you to know how smart it is about books like Pride & Prejudice, the aforementioned Lolita, and especially The Good Soldier, to which it points aggressively and way too literally (pun intended). Once we hear the English Lit 101 term “unreliable narrator” a billion times over, we know exactly where the film’s headed.
Thank Goodness For Supporting Players Like: Aaron Yoo, Jessalyn Wanlim, and My Girl’s Anna Chlumsky, who stand out among Tommy and Beth’s respective social circles. Sample line, courtesy of the sassy, mouthy Wanlim: “I’d waterboard the f*** out of my ex in Gitmo.”
Extra Points for Retro-Worship Casting: Trini Alvarado shows up briefly as Bledel’s boss, while Andrew McCarthy gleefully devours the scenery as Tommy’s Gordon Gekko-like mentor.