GOOD ONE - Mark Reviews Movies

Good One, Metrograph Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 8, 2024

The girl understands the men better than they understand themselves, and why wouldn't she? Sam (Lily Collias), the main character of Good One, lived with her father until he and her mother divorced, he started a new family, and she saw everything that happened and resulted from all that. She has also seen the father's best friend go through a more recent and difficult divorce, leaving him miserable and alone and certain that his ex-wife is conniving to make his relationship impossible with their son.

Sam has watched all of this, as well as how her father and the friend behave on their own and together for years, and at 17, the girl can see their bantering as innocent fun, until it isn't. These two men are competing with each other in all sorts of ways, and writer/director India Donaldson throws the teenager in the middle of that bickering on a days-long hiking/camping trip through the Catskills.

The perspective here is fascinating, because, while Sam is the central character of this story, her role is mainly one of a passive, intelligent observer of her traveling partners. To the men, the girl is simply in the background, part of the trip, for sure, but only noticed when either of the men finds it convenient or useful to pay attention to her.

This trip is for Chris (James Le Gros), the father, and Matt (Danny McCarthy), the dad's long-time friend. It was also supposed to be for Matt's teenage son, so that the two of them might bond after the messy divorce of the boy's parents, but upon arriving at Matt's apartment, the father and son are in the middle of an argument. The kid doesn't want to go, and Matt is frustrated enough with everything going on with the ex and his son that he simply gives up the fight. Sam, by the way, watches all of that happen, too.

Donaldson's approach to this material isn't particularly dramatic, in that there aren't major confrontations, such as the one on the stoop between the father and son, or conflicts, such as the many the two men discuss while resting after a long day of driving or hiking. In that way, though, the film is more honest and accurate about these characters and their assorted relationships. It's not, for example, that Chris and Matt are going to yell at each other about the little barbs or the sarcastic comments about the things that really stick—mentions of Matt being out of shape, of Chris trying to elevate his status as an adventurer around a trio of younger men, and of how both men messed up solid marriages with good women who didn't deserve what they got out of the deal.

No, these two will just keep making those statements, almost as a reflex, and keep stewing about how much they hurt without saying a word to the other man. What does Sam do during all of this? Well, she watches and listens, while seeing and hearing more about what's actually happening than her father and his pal.

Make no mistake, though. This is Sam's story, even if she is quiet for long stretches of time and only talks about Chris and/or Matt when she is given an opportunity to speak. That's her role here, and in Collias' fantastically expressive performance, it speaks volumes about her patience, her intelligence, and her capacity for empathy, while also revealing the main point of Donaldson's mostly relaxed story. This girl possesses insight and compassion that both of these men need right now in their lives, but they're so busy serving their own wants and needs and misery that they don't even notice. On the one occasion that one of the men does notice, though, what conclusion does he actually draw from what she has to say?

That question gets at a significant turning point in the film, which won't be detailed here, because it arrives late and changes the dynamics of Sam's relationships with both her father and his friend in ways she's scared to vocalize. The build-up to it is so subtle, as the three walk through beautiful landscapes (Donaldson lets nature and Wilson Cameron's cinematography speak for themselves) and really talk while resting, that it is a genuine shock, too. Everything does seem relatively innocent and generally affable among the trio until that point.

Yes, the men insult each other, with Matt receiving the brunt of the passive-aggressive comments, and occasionally make jokes at Sam's expense or, without noticing it, dismissing her as part of the group (Matt regrets that his son isn't on the hike, leading him to wallow that it should have been four but that three is "good enough"). Men can often be little more than grown-up boys, and after all, boys will be boys and all that entails (The exploration of that notion is a significant element of this story).

Sam knows this, accepts it, tries to change it as much as she can (standing up for Matt and nudging her father not to be so mean), but ultimately has to face what "all that" actually does entail. It's not just what's said in that single moment that changes everything. It's also the immediate discomfort, the encroaching fear, and the anxiety of if and how to tell someone what was said. The third act of this film is uncomfortable in a way that's difficult to express, on its own and without giving away that key details, but unfortunately recognizable, in general and because the film does spend so much time letting us see Sam.

We do see her, her diplomatic and thoughtful ways, and how she's terribly repaid for the effort in Good One. This becomes a quietly harrowing story by the end, and that, as awful as it may be, feels honest and authentic, too.

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