A Good Person                  3 stars

A Good Person, written and directed by Scrubs star Zach Braff and starring Academy Award nominee Florence Pugh (of Midsommar, Little Women and Oppenheimer and Princess Irulan in Dune 2!) brings us into the all too familiar world of drug addiction and PTSD. In this movie it is Pugh who plays the drug addict, Allison, a young woman who had everything going for her including a loving fiancé and an active social life until a tragic accident resulted in her being addicted to OxyContin. Allison has a falling out with her mother (Molly Shannon), is afraid to work and is not above blackmailing former friends in order to score more drugs. Things are bad for Allison but also in pain are her fiancé, Nathan (Chinaza Uche), Nathan’s father, Daniel (the legendary Morgan Freeman) and Daniel’s granddaughter, Ryan (Celeste O’Connor of Selah and the Spades). You see, Daniel’s daughter and mother to Ryan were killed in the tragic accident. Long after the incident these people are trying to get on with their lives, some better than others. Daniel is now responsible for Ryan who has been acting out in high school. Having been an alcoholic before, Daniel is in a position to try to help Allison out of her addiction but it is a painful situation given the loss everyone has suffered. While Florence Pugh puts in a good performance as Allison the film feels rather formulaic on this all too familiar subject. Better movies come to mind like Requiem for a Dream, Rachel Getting Married and Clean and Sober (which features a young Morgan Freeman). There was also Sound of Metal in 2019. (Outstanding!) It’s a tough assignment to measure up to some of these excellent movies. Braff gave it a try, but it was also reported that he specifically wrote the movie for Pugh since the two were at one time involved in a relationship. It’s certainly not great. I will be watching closely for the release of Dune: Part Two which includes Florence Pugh playing the part of Princess Irulan.