Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

Aniston and Reilly give the best of many excellent performances. A few plotty scenes aside, this quietly directed drama paints a sensitive, sympathetic portrait of modern malaise, and has a smart sense of humor as a bonus.

Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas

The extraordinary quality of White's script and Arteta's direction lifts the meticulously cast actors to the height of their abilities. "Friends" star Aniston digs deep but is never showy. Reilly reveals the tenderness, vulnerability and hidden depth that can lurk within a slob, and Nelson has some of the film's most outrageously funny and inspired moments.

Portland Oregonian by Kim Morgan

A slow burn. A portrait of the mundane humor and horror of everyday life, it scalds nerves you may have never thought existed. And yet the film is funny, almost hilariously at times.

The New York Times by A.O. Scott

There's more to everyone here than we're initially led to think. The Good Girl is like a neurotically charged post-millennial take on the trailer-park comedies that Jonathan Demme once claimed for himself.

Washington Post by Michael O'Sullivan

Aniston delivers an utterly un-Rachel-like performance. It's neurosis-free and unmannered, by turns funny, sad and profound.

New York Post by Megan Lehmann

A comedy as black as the asphalt desert of a mall parking lot.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

Jennifer Aniston has at last decisively broken with her "Friends" image in an independent film of satiric fire and emotional turmoil. It will no longer be possible to consider her in the same way.

Baltimore Sun by Chris Kaltenbach

It's a deft sleight-of-story Aniston, White and Arteta pull off, giving us a character who seems more than she is, but is really less than she appears.

USA Today by Claudia Puig

A sharp-tongued, subtly nuanced tragicomedy starring Jennifer Aniston, who shows her depth as a serious actress in this dark tale.

Charlotte Observer by Lawrence Toppman

Doesn't have the daring lunacy of "Chuck and Buck," the previous collaboration by director Miguel Arteta and writer Mike White. Yet it gets closer to the troubled, lonely soul of its main character.

Variety by David Rooney

This one comes up short in terms of visual flair. But it delivers amusingly observed characters, consistent laughs underscored by the poignancy of unfulfilled existences and winning performances from a terrific cast captained by Jennifer Aniston.

Austin Chronicle by Marjorie Baumgarten

Succeeds as a moody, evocative, and pleasing film, one that underscores its indie roots in sentiment as well as style

Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea

There's humor in it, and sadness, and an acid-tinged humor that is miles away from the branded levity of "Friends." More power to Aniston for feeling the need to try something different, and then doing it -- well.

San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle

A smart, arch and rather cold-blooded comedy.

Salon by Andrew O'Hehir

Never quite establishes its own identity, and when you remember it in two years it's likely to be that movie you saw that you kind of liked with that girl in it, what's her name, from TV.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

Only pretends to care about good people who sometimes do bad things. In fact, it hasn't got time for the pain.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen

The Good Girl isn't really the title of this movie at all. Instead, it's now widely known as The Movie That Proves Jennifer Can Act.