Good One

Grade: A-

Have you ever had something said to you that you haven’t been able to shake, no matter how long ago it was? It doesn’t affect your life, other than you continuing to remember it. You wish you could just erase that comment from your memory, Eternal Sunshine style. It’s a tumor that’s planted in your brain, there to trip you up. Sometimes at night, when I’m having trouble drifting off to sleep, I think about peculiar things I did and said 20 or even 30 years ago, and I feel icky. I wonder if I’ve ever made such a spur of the moment statement, and if it continues to haunt someone’s memory. Good One, an offbeat but wonderful movie, is about just that.

The plot involves 17-year-old Sam, who goes on a hiking trip for a few days with her dad Chris and his best friend Matt. Hikers and outdoorsy people will love the atmosphere of Good One. The crackling fires, crunching leaves, and running water successfully take us there. The little score we get, mostly during the expository scenes, is beautiful and effective. The trio of lead performances is consistent and convincing. Lily Collias (Palm Trees and Power Lines) is just right as Sam. She should have a long career. James Le Gros (Showing Up) and Danny McCarthy as Chris and Matt give us flawed men who are living and learning and trying to be good ones.

Sam is on her period during this hike, and stops a couple of times to go off and change her tampon. This through-line could have been left out of the movie and nothing would have been different, but I suspect it’s in there as an indication of how she is alone in experiencing something that the men she’s with aren’t going through. It reinforces the isolation, and I didn’t object to the recurring bit. She serves as a sounding board for her dad and Matt – there to listen and offer advice. The guys frequently ask her how she can be so wise so young. It’s all the kind of masterful, naturalistic acting that makes you forget these are actors.

The central conflict takes place during a boozy night around the campfire. I’m going to be vague, and I apologize, but I want to talk about it without being spoilery. One of the men says something to Sam. There’s no action, just talk. It’s quick and relatively harmless (probably not even sincerely meant), but cringy and inappropriate. I wouldn’t say it, and I bet he wouldn’t have either, had he been of sober mind. The next day, after so much is said in a few minutes of silence, Sam tells someone else about the thing said to her the night before, and is basically told “Don’t pay what he says any mind. Let’s just have a nice day and not rock the boat, ok?” That could be a commentary on how eager certain people are to dismiss or squash concerns that are brought up, because it’s more convenient to keep the peace and status quo. Just “don’t worry about it,” right? I, personally, took it as a statement on how a quick little thing tossed out off the cuff can fester in one’s mind. The commenter might not even remember saying it, but it leaves an indelible mark in the recipient’s brain and heart. The movie can work for you on either level, or both.

Because of its lack of a tangible resolution, and how quickly and randomly it cuts to black for the credits to start, the ending may frustrate and dissatisfy some moviegoers. It is one of the more abrupt ones I’ve seen in the last few years, but as an exploration into how one flippant comment can stick with a person for possibly the rest of their life, coloring everything they do, it’s a fascinating character study. It helps if you think of it that way.

Grade: A-