“The Good Girl” (R) is a film about choices. Choices that are made to hide lies, choices that are made to escape from stagnant situations and choices that are thought to have been made for the right reason — the “good” reason — but end up wrong in the end.

In her first noteworthy (watchable) role, Jennifer Aniston plays a character named Justine Last who is stuck wasting her time as a makeup artist at a grocery store called the Retail Rodeo. Disenchanted with her husband Phil, played by character actor John C. Reilly, she soon fixates her attention on a dark and brooding checker played by Jake Gyllenhaal, whose best performance to date can be seen in the film “Donnie Darko.”

-Preferring to be called Holden, after the main character in the classic novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” Gyllenhaal’s character is played with a fierce quietness that is all at once familiar and frightening.

A poet and a playwright, Holden feels” put upon” by others, and lacks an understanding and affection from his parents and peers that he finds in his new friend Justine.

After developing a hot and heavy affair, which is acted upon mostly in the store room of the Retail Rodeo and in a local cheap motel, Justine inches away from Holden and toward making things right again with her husband. This results in many mishaps and disgusting consequences.

Holden, on the other hand, becomes obsessed with the idea that Justine is his saving grace and as he loses her, he loses his mind.

The town that makes up the setting of this film could be any nearby southern suburb that delights in being able to advertise that it does in fact have an ATM in its gas station. The patrons and workers at the Retail Rodeo all wear an expression of distaste that we pass by daily. This film is far from fiction.

The “Good Girl” character ensemble convinces the viewer that it is truly dissatisfied with life, especially in the case of the character Cheryl (Zooey Deschanel), who worked as the announcement girl for the store until being transferred to the makeup counter after the former employee died from a tragic roadside “berry” incident.

Making the most of her position by painting up her clients to be as ugly as possible, Cheryl adds a touch of humor to the film that bounces around from scene to scene.

Although somewhat predictable, “The Good Girl” is a fresh take on an age-old subject. Many films have been made about cheating wives in small towns, but this one tells the tale of what happens when ends are left loose, instead of neatly solved before the credits roll. Both Aniston and Gyllenhaal are passionate and believable in their quest for something more, however unhealthy it may be, and are endearing all the way through.

A few things to look out for during the film: Cheryl’s sassy announcements, Corny’s messages from Jesus and Holden’s breakdown scene in Justine’s car.