The New Zach Braff-Florence Pugh Movie Will Surprise the Haters
The new dramedy A Good Person, in theaters this Friday, comes with some baggage. First, you have the film’s writer and director Zach Braff, who’s filmmaking debut Garden State elicits constant opining from some critics about how much it actually sucked.
His follow-ups, Wish I Was Here in 2014 and Going In Style in 2017, didn’t do much to boost his approval rating as an auteur. And at first glance, A Good Person might look like another round of schmaltzy, mid-2000s fare with some possibly dubious racial dynamics, including Morgan Freeman aiding yet another white protagonist. That’s not to mention that the film stars Braff’s former romantic partner Florence Pugh, whose relationship with the much-older Scrubs star has spurred some annoyingly sexist backlash.
Well, all prior hangups and skepticism be damned because A Good Person is actually not a bad movie. In fact, it’s quite good, in a head-scratching, mind-boggling sort of way.