A Good Person (2023)

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Siskoid
Sometimes a tearjerker comes down the pike that transcends its potential for melodrama thanks to strong performances and unusual character dynamics, and I think "King of Sadness" Zach Braff's A Good Person falls into that category. It had me at Florence Pugh, of course. She plays a woman who loses her future sister-in-law and brother-in-law in a car crash, ruining her life and the family's. One year later, she's addicted to painkillers and a real mess. A chance encounter with the man who would once have been her father-in-law (Morgan Freeman, who Braff can't help but give voice-over, a dreadful cliché that he mostly gets away with in the end), now raising his children's difficult teenage daughter, gives her hope she can turn her life around. He struggles with addiction too, and while Freeman isn't as emotional as Pugh - it wouldn't fit the character - he gives just as solid a performance. So while we've seen many similar addiction stories, the unusual family dynamics and the frankly terrific performances elevate the movie above what it otherwise could have been. Pugh had me weeping, but she's always had a certain power over me. It's also that I find stories about people trying to do the right thing and showing each other grace especially touching. 4 months 2 weeks ago