A Good Person

A Good Person mostly works, thanks to the strength of its performers and its compassionate spirit.

The pleasure lies in watching Pugh and Freeman face up and finally come around to one another. It’s not straightforward, a dance of advance and retreat with both revealing their strengths and weaknesses, but it’s always worth watching.

Pugh gives a mesmerising performance and Freeman, for once cast in a very substantial role, is better than he’s been in several years.

There are times when casting really does matter and A Good Person is an excellent example.

The tone is jarring throughout, mostly preachy and po-faced, and built upon several awkwardly overperformed scenes (Lots of “ ‘F*** you!’ ‘No, f*** you!’ ”) that mostly feel like offcuts from an Edward Albee tribute play.

Having redeemed the rather silly Don’t Worry Darling through sheer charisma, Florence Pugh is once again called upon to bring her magic to otherwise indifferent material.

Braff has not grown as a filmmaker or writer and still believes putting a bunch of indie songs over a scene is enough to make it dramatically coherent. Still, for those who love Florence Pugh, her performance will not disappoint even if the film does.

Though Pugh does her customary excellent work here, she’s ultimately undermined by all the overlong, transparently manufactured, and downright whiplash-inducing melodrama around her.

Zach Braff’s latest won’t change the screenwriting or filmmaking game one bit, but a pair of solid lead performances made it worth watching. Morgan Freeman helps every movie he's in.

The entire cast elevates the heavy-handed, predictable and contrived melodrama, though there are magic human moments that land because of the performers’ skills.