Product Details

• Actors: Mark Webber, Zooey Deschanel, Bill Paxton, Harry Dean Stanton, Patrick Fugit
• Directors: Stephen Berra
• Writers: Stephen Berra
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: November 4, 2008
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001DWNUEM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,083 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Good Life" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

A STORY ABOUT A MOSTLY NORMAL YOUNG MAN WHO MAKES THE MOST OUTOF FITTING IN WHEN HE OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars scarily accurate..., December 6, 2010

By 

D. Connelly (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good Life (DVD)

I grew up in Lincoln in a non-football family. While that doesn't sound like a big deal to rest of the nation, Nebraskans will understand that we might as well have been Satan worshipers as far as the Lincoln community is concerned. It's hard to explain to an outsider what kind of insanity is involved when it comes to college football and Nebraska in general but Lincoln more specifically. This movie comes the closest I have seen to capturing it. While many movies have set stage in Nebraska, this is the only movie I have seen that doesn't push the "hick" aspect too far. Whomever wrote this movie had to have lived in Nebraska at some point. You can't make this kind of thing up. I thought the movie was very well written and exceptionally well acted. But people who are not from Nebraska will see the film in an entirely different light than Nebraskans will. To non-Nebraskans, the movie might seem over the top in places and slow in others. But that's how life is there. I found the story to be interested and well thought out. I think that even if there hadn't been the emotional connection to the premise, the movie would have still held my interest.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent (and overlooked) film., September 11, 2009

By 

Sodesune (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good Life (DVD)

I wasn't sure what to expect when I rented this, having never heard of it. But it was a chance I'm glad I took - the acting is extremely strong and it's directed with care. It's a slow film, with some interesting plot twists and a generally dark mood...which is fitting, given the storyline. It could have fallen in the trap of just being another "oh I hate my town and I'm bored" flick, but it emerges as much more than that. Highly recommended.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 for some of the performances..., November 2, 2008

By 

Steve Kuehl "SLV Video" (Boulder Creek, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good Life (DVD)

I know this kid (Webber) has had a hell of a life and his performances are definitely worth watching. This film has been horribly mislabeled and advertised so I am hoping it gets a fair shake on DVD just to showcase his performance.

First and foremost, I have customers asking about this because they want to see Paxton and/or Drea De Matteo films; they are front billed on this and Webber gets buried on second tier. To be clear - Paxton has 3 minutes and De Matteo has 2 minutes and 6 lines. Zooey has a supporting role but the writing makes it to where her role is (supposedly) important (with a twist in the end) but falls well short of meeting reality. The story of a young adult living a tough inner-city life making ends meet is covered adequately in the writing, and the lengths shown to facilitate his worthiness are noble, but in the end count on it becoming tedious.

I love the whole premise of a classic movie theater being run by the time challenged curator (played by Stanton) and the foreshadowing of the end of our story being played in the first scene - but once you see how this all plays together it leaves more questions than answers and believability goes right out the window. I know I get in trouble whenever I pan a ZD film, but this film cannot hold together above a 3 star reference - I would highly recommend it just to see Webber's thorough performance and Klein showing a much darker (and misplaced for the film) character.

Ignore the whole DVD cover (front and back - "He's finally had enough" - whatever; "Phenomenal" - not really) and rent this to watch some young performers fill some vacant roles.