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"Hurt people hurt people," often used in the context of empathy or forgiveness, is a valid statement about how patterns repeat unless people take steps to understand and change them. But it is also true that in some cases, only hurt people can help other hurting people. Their lived experience gives them credibility in sharing what they have learned and in providing those in need an example to show that they can do better and feel better. This is why support groups play a significant role in helping those with addictions, illness, loss, or experiencing abuse.

Three badly hurt people help each other in "A Good Person." Writer/director Zach Braff anchors the film with tender-hearted, touching performances by Morgan Freeman and Florence Pugh . Both play characters who struggle to find a way forward after devastating failures with tragic consequences.

It is more formally conventional than his first film, " Garden State ," and thankfully less self-indulgent than his second film, " Wish I Was Here ." "A Good Person" benefits from the same shrewd sense of detail and character evident in both, taking on ambitious themes of addiction, abuse, abandonment, overwhelming grief, and finding a way to forgive the unforgivable, even when it means forgiving yourself. And, as the title suggests, what it means to be a good person.

Pugh plays Alison, a light-hearted young woman who dances along the surface of life and does not think too deeply about her choices. She is happily engaged to Nathan (a very appealing Chinaza Uche ). She is making a lot of money as a sales rep for a pharma company, convincing herself that her work is not immoral because the only drug she is pushing is prescribed for a skin disease.

One day, Alison drives her future sister- and brother-in-law to the city to help her pick out her wedding dress. For a few seconds, she takes her eyes off the road to look at the map on her phone near a construction site. She is unable to avoid a collision with a backhoe. Alison is injured, and her passengers are killed.

A year later, the teenage daughter of the couple who was killed, Ryan (a lovely performance from Celeste O'Connor ), lives with her grandfather, Daniel (Morgan Freeman). That adjustment is challenging for both of them as Ryan is hostile and acting out. Alison lies on her mother's couch all day in a fog of oxycontin addiction, trying to numb her pain, emotional and physical. Her engagement is broken. Her mother, Diane ( Molly Shannon ), is running out of patience, and her doctors are cutting off her prescriptions.

Alison becomes desperate for more drugs. Daniel, an alcoholic who has been sober for a decade, feels so helpless in dealing with Ryan that he contemplates drinking again. Instead, he takes comfort in his model train set, an environment where he has control and can even re-create his own history the way he wishes it had happened.

The screenplay has structural problems, spending so much time on addiction that it shortchanges some plot developments and relationships. It relies on too-often-seen indicators—a character looks into the mirror to say, "I hate you," and we get the significance of the model train set long before it is over-explained. But some sharp dialogue and Freeman and Pugh's committed and insightful performances hold it together. Pugh is remarkably specific in every stage of Alison's struggle with addiction, whether she is buzzed or "blissfully numb" or frantic to get some pills, detoxing, or somewhere in between. In one scene, she runs into some people she once looked down on, and we see layer after layer unpeel from her sense of who she is. In another, she decides she can calibrate her chemistry enough to break a pill in half, thinking she can fool people into thinking she is not high. That is when she runs into Freeman, who is at his best in that very touching moment. We see his conflicts, but he gently encourages her. What connects them transcends the pain she has caused him. It is his having been where she is that makes it impossible for her to fool him about whether she is using. Daniel and Allison are stripped down to essentials, and in its best moments, so is this movie.

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Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

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A Good Person (2023)

Rated R for drug abuse, language throughout and some sexual references.

129 minutes

Florence Pugh as Allison

Morgan Freeman as Daniel

Molly Shannon as Diane

Celeste O'Connor as Ryan

Zoe Lister-Jones as Simone

Chinaza Uche as Nathan

Toby Onwumere as Jesse

Nichelle Hines as Molly

Ignacio Diaz-Silverio as Quinn

Cinematographer

Mauro Fiore
Bryce Dessner

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‘a good person’ review: florence pugh and morgan freeman lift zach braff’s labored trauma drama.

Pugh plays a young woman whose life hits rock bottom after being involved in a fatal car accident in Braff's latest directorial effort.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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Florence Pugh (left) as Allison and Morgan Freeman (right) as Daniel in A GOOD PERSON

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A Good Person Reviews

Has everything that you would expect from a Zach Braff film - a good screenplay and a great soundtrack. This one will keep you guessing with all of its twists and turns. Morgan Freeman, Florence Pugh and Celeste O'Connor are amazing throughout.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 16, 2023

Braff has not grown as a filmmaker or writer and still believes putting a bunch of indie songs over a scene is enough to make it dramatically coherent. Still, for those who love Florence Pugh, her performance will not disappoint even if the film does.

Full Review | Sep 6, 2023

Though Pugh does her customary excellent work here, she’s ultimately undermined by all the overlong, transparently manufactured, and downright whiplash-inducing melodrama around her.

Full Review | Sep 2, 2023

Zach Braff’s latest won’t change the screenwriting or filmmaking game one bit, but a pair of solid lead performances made it worth watching. Morgan Freeman helps every movie he's in.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 26, 2023

The entire cast elevates the heavy-handed, predictable and contrived melodrama, though there are magic human moments that land because of the performers’ skills.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 16, 2023

Zach Braff's direction is solid but his writing is the best aspect of it all as well as Florence Pugh great performance.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jul 22, 2023

Director Zach Braff delivers many insightful, poignant scenes about grief, guilt, and how hard it can be to forgive ourselves, even when other people have already forgiven us.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 30, 2023

There are some undeniably foreboding moments, but thankfully, it wades into darker territory without quickly brightening everything with a cute scenario.

Full Review | May 29, 2023

Touching story about three people who are able to face addiction and grief through their kindnesses to each other.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 28, 2023

A Good Person is a story of shades of grey that loses itself in its third act, but just as well deserves our attention to attend a display of honesty told by a regretfully insecure hand. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 22, 2023

It’s a deeper issue than the stakes of the film not manifesting, there’s something about the clear-eyed presentation of its bleary-eyed characters that seems to signal a quality of inauthenticity.

Full Review | Original Score: 45/100 | May 20, 2023

A forgettable sentimental melodrama about a family tragedy. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | May 18, 2023

Writer/director Zach Braff’s well intentioned but predictable drama A Good Person is saved by another stunning screen performance from Florence Pugh.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 28, 2023

A Good Person mostly works, thanks to the strength of its performers and its compassionate spirit.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 24, 2023

“A Good Person” veers between moments of genuine feeling and moments of phony schmaltz — and ends up delivering more of the fake stuff than the real thing.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 23, 2023

After an annoying beginning, A Good Person hits its stride and turns into a movie you definitely should not miss; a meditation on the ravages of opioid addiction, featuring dramatic heavy-hitters Pugh and Freeman. Very heartwarming.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 21, 2023

The pleasure lies in watching Pugh and Freeman face up and finally come around to one another. It’s not straightforward, a dance of advance and retreat with both revealing their strengths and weaknesses, but it’s always worth watching.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 20, 2023

Every one of these characters is up to their necks in a mother lode of woe that makes perversely compelling viewing.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 20, 2023

… manages to eke out a good experience off the strength of its visceral lead performances and its eventual, if still rocky, ability to wring proper catharsis out of occasionally screwface-inducing developments.

Full Review | Original Score: 13.99 | Apr 18, 2023

The answer to a question no one asked (what would happen if you smushed misery porn into eldersploitation and had Zach Braff do it?)...

Full Review | Original Score: 0/4 | Apr 16, 2023

Screen Rant

A good person review: pugh & freeman are excellent in braff's poignant drama.

Although it sometimes feels like a first film with certain choices and edits, A Good Person is an altogether poignant, emotional & thoughtful drama.

Redemption, guilt, and grief are themes often explored in films. But they aren’t always handled effectively. A Good Person , written and directed by Zach Braff, leans into its themes and sits in them long enough so that its characters’ journeys aren’t short-changed for an easy, neat ending. Braff assembles a fabulous cast, led by Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman, which lends the film proper gravitas. Although it sometimes feels like a first or second film with certain choices and edits, A Good Person is an altogether poignant, emotional and thoughtful drama.

Allison (Pugh) is happily engaged to Nathan (Chinaza Uche), and they’re looking forward to the wedding. Things take a tragic turn, however, when Allie, and Nathan’s sister and brother-in-law are in a car accident that kills the latter. Allie was the driver at the time of the accident, and she can’t move past it despite Nathan wanting to be there for her. A year later, Allie is struggling and is now addicted to oxycontin. When she begins to attend AA meetings, Allie runs into Daniel (Freeman), Nathan’s estranged father who is also having a rough time caring for granddaughter Ryan (Celeste O’Connor) and is grieving the loss of his daughter, contemplating a return to drinking despite his long road to sobriety. Allie and Daniel have a rocky relationship, but they are more alike than they think.

Related: Florence Pugh & Morgan Freeman Cope With Grief In A Good Person Trailer

A Good Person takes its time fleshing out the characters, their dynamics, the way they were each traumatized by the accident, and how they are coping in the aftermath. Though the final scenes are a bit rushed to get to the heartbreaking, yet hopeful conclusion, Braff understands that it’s the journey that is crucial. It would have been easy to turn the story into an emotionally manipulative one, but A Good Person delves into Allie and Daniel’s feelings, unafraid to explore the parts of them they neglect to see or contend with. For Allie, that’s the avoidance of shouldering the blame for the accident; for Daniel, it’s trying to do right by his granddaughter in a bid to prove he’s changed.

They are two sides of the same coin, especially in that they firmly believe they are good people regardless of their actions. To that end, A Good Person gets to the heart of each of their conflicts without forcing it. The film is quite emotional, and it’s hard to watch Allie and Daniel struggle. What’s pertinent here is that they aren’t particularly asking for redemption, but it is apparent in everything they do. They want someone to tell them it’s alright without any self-reflection, and this is especially true of Allie. It’s only through her friendship with Daniel that she can acknowledge the truth and move forward. Braff ultimately crafts a gentle, thoughtful meditation on guilt, redemption, and forgiveness. The film’s conclusion doesn’t tie everything up neatly, but it does offer some hope through the darkness.

A Good Person is a tear-jerker , and the emotion wells up naturally. Watching these characters struggle and attempt to make it out the other side is emotional enough, and it’s all the more effective thanks to Pugh and Freeman’s performances. Pugh is always good, and she really gives her all to Allie, who is a mess and would rather be numb than feel anything at all. Pugh conveys Allie’s struggle with tenderness, and an understanding that this person is hurting and feels she deserves to feel that way. A wavering voice, hunched shoulders, and an uncertainty that lingers in Pugh’s eyes perfectly encapsulates this character and her journey.

A Good Person is one of Freeman’s best roles in a long time. The actor straddles the line between kindness and anger, testing the limits of his patience. Freeman conveys Daniel’s exhaustion and handles his feelings delicately through body language and cadence. Celeste O’Connor is an actress to keep an eye out for, and she shifts easily between grief, anger, annoyance, and joy. Chinaza Uche and Molly Shannon, who plays Allie’s mother, get less to do within the narrative, but their talent shines through nonetheless, and Uche especially does a lot with a little, showing all of Nathan’s emotions through his expressive eyes.

The film isn’t without some contrivances, and there is one key scene that lacks the tension needed to fully land, but it does what it needs to do in the end. There are also certain choices, such as the use of a blurry background that brings focus to an actor while another in the same scene doesn’t get the same treatment, that are questionable and don’t necessarily enhance the moment. A Good Person is littered with instances that make clear Braff is still trying to find his voice as a filmmaker, and certain characters could have been focused on more regarding their grief. However, the result is a story that exudes heartbreak, empathy, and an engaging exploration of two messy people who have made mistakes and hurt people. It’s a tender drama and one that focuses on its characters in interesting, thoughtful ways.

More: The Young Wife Review: Tayarisha Poe Crafts Intimate Story With Visual Flair [SXSW]

A Good Person is in select theaters Friday, March 24 and everywhere March 31. The film is 129 minutes long and rated R for drug abuse, language throughout and some sexual references.

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A Good Person Review – a stunning performance by Pugh

We review the 2023 film A Good Person, which does not contain spoilers.

Zach Braff spent the second half of his career acting in T-Mobile commercials and directing films obsessed with quirk and man-babies who don’t want to grow up. (Yes, that includes the older adult dramedy, Going in Style ).

For instance, Wish I Was Here was an extension of his award-winning film, Garden State , with the same character in a different stage in their life. With this movie, A Good Person , he combines his trademark quirk that is toned down for a script that tackles the painful subject of addiction.

A Good Person (2023) Review and Plot Summary

Braff finds himself behind the camera again, and his script follows a woman named Allison ( Florence Pugh ) , who is in the prime of her life. Her career is exceptional. Allison has a great support system and is about to marry her fiance, Nathan (Chinaza Uche) : a kind, warm soul who compliments Allison in many ways and is deaf in one ear.

After spending the night with Nathan, she drives her future sister and brother-in-law, Molly and Jesse, into the city. While driving, Allison uses her phone to reroute them to the festivities.

A bulldozer backs into her lane. She wakes up in the hospital a few hours later. Her in-laws are dead, leaving their 14-year-old daughter Ryan ( Selah and the Spades ‘ Celeste O’Connor ) to be looked after by her grandfather, Daniel (Morgan Freeman) .

At that point, Braff’s script deals with Allison’s self-medicating as a way to escape the mental and physical pain of the accident. By chance, she walks into a group meeting to help support her attempt at sobriety, being attended by Daniel.

He struggles to stay sober while trying to raise Ryan independently. To say the least, it’s a complicated relationship that Braff makes much more welcoming than you usually would think.

Where the film struggles is in showing some chronic tension between characters. In particular, when Daniel confronts Allison. The film misses an opportunity even when Ryan confronts the woman behind her parent’s death.

They are both very forgiving, and their character acts like it’s their job to heal her somehow. With the script taking place four months or more after the incident, honestly, it’s hard to believe. Even the revelation of the tension between Nathan and Daniel comes across as faux since Freeman plays it as if it wasn’t a big deal and has already offered an apology.

Where the film excels is the performance by Pugh. There are times her performance is a revelation. The Oscar-nominated star has no trouble finding that deeply felt manic depression that comes with self-medicating with opioid addiction.

Her turn is always in the moment, even if Allison is constantly ruminating over the death, not just of her family, but the life that almost was. She is simply stunning here and elevates a film that needed something — or in this case, someone — great to get A Good Person where it needed to be.

Is the 2023 movie A Good Person good?

A Good Person is a slightly above-average character study on grief, with Pugh’s outstanding performance at its center. While the film uses its quirk as a tool to move the story along more than my liking, I see there is a method to Braff’s tendencies.

The script is not about directing blame. Braff wants to explore how trauma can strengthen bonds and how empathy encourages closure. And no matter what you do, there are just some broken connections that can never be fixed.

All you can do is move forward and help manage the pain the best you can.

What did you think of the 2023 film A Good Person? Comment below.

Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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A Good Person review – Florence Pugh lifts unsubtle US addiction drama

Playing a high-flyer whose life falls apart, Pugh stars opposite Morgan Freeman in this laboured tale of redemption

H aving redeemed the rather silly Don’t Worry Darling through sheer charisma, Florence Pugh is once again called upon to bring her magic to otherwise indifferent material. In Zach Braff ’s strident addiction melodrama A Good Person , she plays Allison, a young woman whose life shatters following her involvement in a fatal car accident. Allison has everything going for her: she’s beautiful, musically gifted and adored, in an icky, full-throttle way, by her fiance, Nathan (Chinaza Uche). The only fly in the ointment is Nathan’s conspicuously absent estranged father, Daniel (Morgan Freeman).

Fast-forward a year and Allison is locked in a downward spiral. Her relationship is over, she’s hacking her hair with nail scissors, and she’s addicted to OxyContin. Realising that she needs help, she attends a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, where the first fellow addict she meets is none other than Daniel. The prickly connection between them is persuasive, less so the contrived plotting and manufactured emotional crescendo of the third act.

In cinemas now/on Sky Cinema from 28 April

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‘A Good Person’ Puts Florence Pugh Through Hell

By David Fear

It’s a rite of passage for actors, especially of a certain age, to play an addict. Drugs , alcohol, pills, anything you might chug or snort or shoot in an unhealthy, pain-numbing fashion — the specific substance or substances they’re abusing will vary. But for stage and screen performers ( especially screen performers), it’s a challenge that allows them to play the emotional scales: anger, sadness, buzzed-out bliss, sickness, health, self-pity, self-acceptance, and/or self-destruction. Do it well, and you can plumb the depths of the human soul. Do it really well, and one day you may be able to graduate to playing an addict’s long-suffering parent.

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She will vomit in places where one was not meant to vomit, and later wake up on the bathroom floor, confused and ashamed. Daniel ( Morgan Freeman , really dialing up the Morgan Freemanity to 10 here), who Allison knew from her life before the accident, will help her get to meetings and, as a recovering alcoholic, offer 12-step mentorship. She will attempt to make amends, notably to Daniel’s granddaughter Ryan (Celeste O’Connor), for reasons pertaining to the previously mentioned tragedy. There will be tearful confessions and temporary glimpses of stability, detox tossing and turning, relapses and wake-up calls. You know the drill.

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Not that Pugh phones in any of her wailing and thrashing and clawing her way back to sobriety, or doesn’t 100-percent commit to what she’s doing onscreen. She will not let this character turn into a Manic Pixie Pill Junkie, even when you can feel A Good Person gently (or not-so-gently) nudging her in that direction. Pugh has a way of reminding you why a close-up is the single best gift the moving pictures have given us, as well as somehow making her reactions to a lot of melodramatic business seem organic. That’s always been her gift, and it’s on display here as well.

You don’t blame Braff for wanting to craft a movie around her. But you can blame him for the movie itself that surrounds that performance, as well as a seriously ludicrous climax — one of several — set in a Williamsburg house party and a coda so self-aggrandizingly lachrymose that you’ll have to resist the urge to scream. You can get more potent, far better fixes of the actor’s work here , here , or even, god have mercy on our soul, here . Consider this a Pugh-blic service announcement.

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Summary Daniel (Morgan Freeman) is brought together with Allison (Florence Pugh), the once thriving young woman with a bright future who was involved in an unimaginable tragedy that took his daughter’s life. As grief-stricken Daniel navigates raising his teenage granddaughter and Allison seeks redemption, they discover that friendship, forgivene ... Read More

Directed By : Zach Braff

Written By : Zach Braff

A Good Person

Where to watch.

Florence Pugh

Morgan Freeman

Celeste o'connor.

Molly Shannon

Chinaza uche.

Zoe Lister-Jones

Nichelle hines.

Toby Onwumere

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A Good Person

Content caution.

In Theaters

March 24, 2023
Florence Pugh as Allison; Morgan Freeman as Daniel; Celeste O'Connor as Ryan; Molly Shannon as Diane; Chinaza Uche as Nathan; Zoe Lister-Jones as Simone

Home Release Date

May 19, 2023

Distributor

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Movie Review

She only glanced away for a moment.

Allison’s eyes slipped quickly to the phone in her left hand as her thumb moved the map on screen up a bit. But in that, oh, second or two, the backhoe in the roadway construction area backed into her lane. And by the time she saw it, gasped, and hit the brakes, it was too late.

Does that make her a bad person? Surely not. Good people have tiny lapses of judgement all the time, right?

Allison woke up bruised and with a hole in her skull. Her soon-to-be sister-in-law and brother-in-law, passengers in the car, were both dead. And Allison felt she had no recourse but to quickly drown her guilt and grief in a marching parade of little blue OxyContin pills.

Now, a year later, Allison hasn’t one shred of doubt that she is indeed a bad person. She’s a bad person with no fiancé, no job, no life, and an addiction the size of … a heavy construction backhoe.

Of course, in a rationalizing addict’s brain, the real problem is that OxyContin prescriptions only last so long. And after you burn through them—and every doctor in town who will write you a script—what does a bad person then do?

Oh, you might be surprised.

Eventually, if you actually want to keep living (which is a question Allison has debated), you probably need to get some help. Maybe go to an AA meeting at the local church.

Problem is, when Allison finally musters up the courage to walk into a meeting, she is immediately spotted by an older man named Daniel. Yeah, he just happens to be a recovering alcoholic and the father of Allison’s former fiancé, Nathan.

Oh and let’s not forget, Daniel is also the father of the woman Allison killed while glancing at her phone for a moment.

Allison supposes that this out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire situation is exactly what she deserves.

After all, she’s not a good person.

Positive Elements

Allison has a great many things to suffer through thanks to her corrupting and destructive addiction. (Which is obviously not a good thing.) But on the positive side, the further down she slips and the more she struggles, the more she realizes that she needs help. Some, including Daniel, offer that help. Eventually, after many failures, she’s able to find some desperately needed life correction.

Daniel struggles with his own grief and addiction. And, in addition, he has to care for and protect his teen granddaughter, Ryan, who’s going through her own anger and grief issues. Eventually, all of these broken, suffering people are able to offer what little they have to each other.

A Good Person declares that sacrificing for others, accepting help, and reaching daily for a healthy life are all keys to finding freedom from addiction.

To help combat his alcoholism, Daniel began working with model trains at one point. He talks to Allison about creating 1:87 scale model figures and buildings that help him “record” events from his own life. But he also decides to put a positive spin on those memories, such as having a loving father figure in his life.

While trying to hold Ryan accountable for her actions, Daniel makes an earnest effort to communicate clearly with her and express his love for her.

Spiritual Elements

The AA meeting that Daniel and Allison attend takes place at a nondescript local church. Participants in the program say the Serenity Prayer at the beginning of one meeting. While speaking about his own alcoholism, Daniel admits that he believes there are “some things that are impossible to forgive.” “I think even God knows that,” he laments. He later proclaims that he thinks God is testing him with the torments of his life. But he says he will be “unbreakable!” He also states that Allison is a waste of a soul.

Sexual Content

Daniel catches 16-year-old Ryan in bed with a 20-year-old man. (Both are in their underwear.) Daniel runs the guy out, keeping the man’s clothes. And he crudely threatens to rip off an important body part if he sees the guy again. Later, Allison assures Daniel that a 16-year-old is going to have sex no matter what he does. Ryan tells him the same thing. So, Daniel concedes the issue and makes her promise to get and use birth control.

A desperate Allison tries to blackmail a former friend by threatening to reveal her darkest sexual secrets.

Allison wears some low-cut tops. And she wears a t-shirt and a pair of very revealing underwear to bed with Nathan. They playfully kiss and caress each other and he moves to kiss her mostly bare backside. Ryan wears a formfitting dress to a concert.

At Allison and Nathan’s engagement party, he jokingly states that if someone is about to have sex with a certain friend, he needs to “wear, like, 11 condoms.”

Violent Content

It can be argued that this whole story of Allison’s grueling battle with addiction and self-abuse is its own form of violence; her emotional and physical crawl toward recovery is incredibly painful to observe.

In a more purely physical sense, Allison struggles with her mother for a bottle of pills and smashes her arm into a mirror, leaving it cut and bloody. She also dreams of her deadly car accident in slow motion as the car spins, windows shatter and the vehicle’s occupants lurch back and forth in their seatbelts.

When Daniel catches a 20-year-old with his young granddaughter, he grabs the guy by the throat, slams him against a wall and then shoves him out of the room. Later, that same guy is in bed with granddaughter Ryan again and Daniel points a pistol at him. It’s nearly certain that the now drunk Daniel will shoot him until Nathan steps in front of the gun and talks Daniel down. Then Nathan punches the guy in the nose.

In a different scene, Daniel talks to Allison about the dangerous and abusive “darkness” that alcohol would cast him into. “I thought I would never lay a hand on my children. And I didn’t. When I was sober,” he reports. Later when Daniel and Nathan talk about the wildness of young Ryan, Daniel proclaims that Nathan and his sister were never so rebellious. “We were good because we were terrified of you,” Nathan sadly replies. In fact, we find out that Nathan’s hearing loss in one ear is because Daniel beat him so mercilessly while drunk.

Crude or Profane Language

Along with a great deal of emotional and physical misery, viewers will also suffer the pain of lots of foul language. There are more than 90 f-words and some 20 s-words in the dialogue here, along with repeated uses of “h—,” “d–n,” “b–ch” and “crap.”

God’s name is misused 10 times (twice in combination with “d–n.”) Name-calling includes the slurs “dyke” and “whore.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

People drink wine, beer and alcohol at several parties, a concert and at a bar. We see people smoking marijuana at a couple parties. And after one of those, Allison reports being very stoned from a consumed edible.

Daniel is a recovering alcoholic. But on several occasions, the stress of life almost drives him to opening a bottle of whiskey he keeps hidden away. And when he does finally give in, he gets staggeringly drunk.

Driven by her addictive needs, Allison downs glasses of tequila, even though she has no money to pay for them. A former classmate agrees to pay for her as long as she debases herself verbally and openly admits her addiction. Which she does.

Allison has a morphine drip in the hospital. And we see her downing OxyContin pills on several occasions, as well as swilling cough syrup, struggling to steal someone’s Xanax, snorting cocaine and smoking heroin. In fact, a guy argues that OxyContin is actually “heroin in a pretty dress.” Allison crushes OxyContin pills to snort. She fills her mouth with the pills at one point in anticipation of committing suicide, but spits the drugs out at the last second. We watch her struggle with drug withdrawal.

Eventually Allison sells her only item of value and checks herself into a recovery clinic.

A recovering addict from the AA meeting agrees to sponsor Allison if she agrees to stay clean, to work hard and to go to 90 meetings in 90 days. The sponsor says she won’t waste time on anyone who doesn’t want to recover, noting that she’s worked with many others with only two outcomes: “Some beat it. And some are dead!”

Allison’s mother drinks wine and smokes cigarettes, and we see her ashtray packed full of butts. Daniel remembers a “guy who smoke Camels” who also stole his girlfriend.

Other Negative Elements

In the grip of addiction, Allison vomits on a bar floor.

Allison talks about the terrible impact her father’s abandonment of their family had on her. For instance, she once loved to swim and have her dad cheer her on. But when he left, that was one of the joys of her life that she abandoned. “Maybe some people just aren’t good,” she reasoned.

When we look honestly at the broken world around us, it’s easy to see why people are in pain, why some unfortunate souls sometimes tumble in hopeless directions. Moviemakers have often tried to capture that broken human condition on film. A Good Person is writer/director Zach Braff’s latest stab at that theme.

His movie is hard to watch at times. Its dialogue is rough and raw. And its story of terrible events and life-crushing addiction is almost too painful to take in. Certainly, too painful to enjoy . That fact alone will head many moviegoers off at the pass.

That said, there’s a message of hope hammered into this film’s tungsten-hard edges. Its performances are moving and immersive—particularly the gritty character choices of Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman. They declare that with help, determination and profound effort, a struggling person might find a way through the bloody battlefield of life.

That’s not to say that you’ll find any uplifting spiritual revival in this cautionary pic. But you will find an emotional nudge toward the possibility of a new beginning.

And sometimes that’s a good first step.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Movie Review – A Good Person (2023)

May 30, 2023 by Robert Kojder

A Good Person , 2023.

Written and Directed by Zach Braff. Starring Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Molly Shannon, Celeste O’Connor, Zoe Lister-Jones, Chinaza Uche, Toby Onwumere, Nichelle Hines, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Oli Green, Brian Rojas, Ryann Redmond, Sydney Morton, Jackie Hoffman, Victor Cruz, Anthony Cedeño, and Emilia Suárez.

Allison’s life falls apart following her involvement in a fatal accident. The unlikely relationship she forms with her would-be father-in-law helps her live a life worth living.

Trauma is laid on thick by writer and director Zach Braff in A Good Person , sometimes ringing true and occasionally forced. There is no single character that doesn’t have an expressive personality cranked up to 11. However, there are also scathingly raw moments of different types of addiction and forms of self-loathing, built into some truly thorny character relationship dynamics so authentically performed that there’s a good enough reason to let the shortcomings slide.

Florence Pugh is Allison, engaged to Nathan (Chinaza Uche), living a relatively happy life pondering other dreams to pursue. At 26, she is still young enough to achieve any goal set. The next day while driving with Nathan’s sister-in-law and her husband on the New Jersey Turnpike, tragedy strikes with a fatal car accident that kills everyone inside aside from Allison. This is also where Zach Braff makes a wise choice to reveal from the beginning that this accident is partially the fault of Allison, who was far too into conversation while driving, eventually opening up a map app on her phone, which turns out to be the deadliest mistake of them all literally.

One of the most intriguing aspects of A Good Person is that it’s not just a film about survivor’s guilt but a survivor directly responsible for these deaths in a way that could have been avoided. One year later, Allison has left her fiancé, slipped into an Oxy addiction following her facial injuries, and hasn’t truly confronted the irresponsibility of her actions.

Now living back in her hometown, there is an early bar scene (she goes anywhere and tries anything to get a fix after her mom, played by Molly Shannon, flushed the rest down the toilet) where Allison encounters a pair of directionless burnouts that can get her drugs but were also boys during high school that she always thought she was superior to. It’s a devastating crashing-down-to-earth moment that Allison might not see that way. It’s tough to say who is better or even a good person here, but there is something vile about these once-bullied patrons that is more about twisted vindication than trying to make a reasonable point about whoever Allison was during high school.

Scenes like the ones mentioned above are phenomenally acted by Florence Pugh, who is extraordinary in this challenging role that also demands her to sing (for reasons I won’t spoil, but the lyrics are shatteringly depressing) on top of believably playing an addict who consistently relapses and finds herself in low moments, absolutely despising what she sees in the mirror (another scene bound to wreck anyone that watches this).

A Good Person also has to make time for the other characters, such as Nathan’s parentless niece Ryan (Celeste O’Connor), now living with Daniel (Morgan Freeman, who hasn’t committed to a performance with this much passion and dedication in at least ten years), the former alcoholic police officer that would occasionally get so drunkenly violent he physically beat Nathan deaf in one ear. Father and son didn’t even speak to one another when Nathan was together with Allison, but there are forgiveness and redemption arcs here. There is also an honest depiction that even someone clean for a decade good relapse over unexpected traumatic events, as Daniel and Allison wind up in the same AA meeting, with the former deciding to support the latter as if it’s God’s will.

Meanwhile, Ryan has become a problem child disinterested in soccer and obtaining a scholarship, dangerously interested and sexually intimate with a 20-year-old man, which naturally causes one of Daniel’s violent outbursts. Morgan Freeman being forced into talking to a teenager about safe sex and inappropriate partners is already a realistic (and sometimes organically hilarious) enough plot point, but there are many instances where Zach Braff begins to pile drama on (including a bit where Daniel drunkenly grabs a gun for bad intentions) for the sake of it when nuance would have been more welcome.

Some of these characters and scenarios fare better when they are in the presence of Allison, but even then, everything feels like it’s slipping away from Zach Braff’s grip when the story leans a bit too hard into a certain kind of destiny born from Ryan’s misguided but well-intentioned actions toward Allison and Nathan.

Much like the model train world that Daniel has been constructing over decades of his life while delivering some early narration comparing the happy perfection of his escapist hobby to real life, A Good Person falls somewhere in between; there are good and bad things that sometimes happen out of nowhere to push the plot forward as if the film is Zach Braff’s version of a model world. However, it is a powerful story anchored by truly remarkable performances.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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A Good Person movie review: A heartbreaking journey

By ricky valero | mar 24, 2023.

Florence Pugh (left) as Allison and Molly Shannon (right) as Diane in A GOOD PERSON, directed by Zach Braff, a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film.Credit: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures© 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

A brand new film from MGM hits theaters on March 24 in A Good Person . Below I share my thoughts on the film and let you know if you should check it out in theaters.

A Good Person follows the story of Allison whose life falls apart following her involvement in a fatal accident. The film was written and directed by Zach Braff and stars Florence Pugh , Morgan Freeman, and Celeste O’Connor.

The movie begins with us meeting a happily-in-love Nathan and Allison. They are talking weddings, and Nathan’s family is in town to help pick out the wedding dress and more. While on their way to do so, Allison is driving Nathan’s family into town, and out of nowhere, a tractor comes, cutting them off and causing a wreck. The accident ends up killing Nathan’s sister and her husband.

We fast forward a year with Allison still recovering from the accident. She lives with the trauma daily and uses pain meds to cope with the pain of it all. Then, we see Daniel (Nathan’s father) struggle with Ryan (Nathan’s sister’s daughter), who is missing her parents, and he can’t control what she’s doing in school.

A Good Person is heartbreaking and powerful

Time and time again, Florence Pugh proves that she is one of the greatest actresses working. She’s had some great performances in her career, but this one blew me away with how grounded and personal it was. There is so much emotion to deliver in the role of Allison, who can’t seem to find her way after the accident. I dare to say this might be the best performance of her career.

Pugh’s scene partner for the majority of this movie is Morgan Freeman . Freeman has been there and done that, but there is one scene in particular that is one of the most heartbreaking scenes you will see in a movie this year. These two go toe to toe, and it was marvelous.

If there were ever a movie that would be hard to suggest to people, it would be A Good Person . It has nothing to do with the film being bad, but it has to do with this emotional and unforgiving script that rips your heart into a million pieces. Zach Braff had something to say about addiction and loss, exploring it in ways I am not sure we’ve seen before. It will not be an easy watch for many, including those who have dealt with addiction. Make sure to have the tissues handy.

Overall, Zach Braff’s A Good Person is an emotionally charged and powerful film that isn’t easy to watch. I recommend watching this movie, but if anything I mention triggers you, please have someone with you. It’s hands down one of the best movies I’ve seen this year.

dark. Next. The Departed and the 10 best movies of all time

A Good Person is in theaters now.

Action/Adventure
Children's/Family
Documentary/Reality
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘A Good Person’ on Prime Video, A Contrived Melodramatic Comedy That Florence Pugh Can’t Quite Save

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A Good Person
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Zach Braff taps into some Garden State vibes with his fourth directorial effort, A Good Person (now streaming on Prime Video ). The movie stars his ex Florence Pugh as a woman in a personal tailspin, taking pills and looking in the mirror a lot, both to the tune of tasteful indie rock – a lot like Braff’s character did in the aforementioned movie that everyone loved for a while and then everyone hated for a while and now everyone kind of shrugs at as a Thing of a Moment (from nearly 20 years ago now, if anyone out there wants to feel all old about it). One thing Pugh is absolutely not in A Good Person is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, which shows some progress, although there’s an overt anti-glam element to her character that tends to be distracting. But she’s the kind of talented actor who can fight through things like that and make something out of a movie that would be far inferior without her – case in point!

A GOOD PERSON : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Morgan Freeman does voiceover in A Good Person , which makes one wonder if his boilerplate movie contracts designate that his soothing timbre MUST accompany any profound (or pseudo-profound) scenes, lest he turn down the gig. In this case, the scene is a bit on the pseudo side, as we see images of a model town and train set, and Freeman delivers an overwrought explanation of how it’s a metaphor for the life he’d wish to live if he could control everything rather than submitting to the will of fate. Cut to: The engagement party of Allison (Pugh) and Nathan (Chinaza Uche). She sings and plays piano for friends and family. Later, she and Nathan snuzzle and snog in bed – they have a rapport and chemistry, and they’re in love, very much so. The next day, she’s driving Nathan’s sister and her husband to try on some wedding dresses. Allison picks up her phone for a split second and then there’s a screech and a crash. Elsewhere, Daniel (Freeman) is about to drop off his teen granddaughter Ryan (Celeste O’Connor) at school when his phone rings. He holds it in, just barely, as Ryan gets out of the car. In the hospital, Allison wakes up bruised and battered. Her mother, Diane (Molly Shannon), is distraught. Nathan looks dazed. Police reps step into the room. They have procedures to follow when there’s been fatalities.

ONE YEAR LATER. Allison follows along with a chirpy YouTuber who’s teaching all her followers to cut their own hair. She chops away. The curtains are closed, the TV is on, the place is disheveled, she’s pasty and pale, her wardrobe ranges from frumpy to sloporama to Work-From-Home Drug Dealer In A Tarantino Movie. She lives with her mother now. Allison used to be a pharmaceutical rep, but now she’s on the other side of it, very much so: She’s hooked on oxycontin. Diane comes home and they have a blowout. Diane hid the pills and Allison wants them then Allison finds them but Diane wrestles them away from her and flushes them down the toilet. That’s the last prescription. The doctors said she needs to “wean off” the oxy. Allison doesn’t drive anymore, so she hops on her bike and tries to shake down the pharmacist, which doesn’t work. And so it gets worse, as she tries to blackmail a former coworker for some, and ends up behind a skeezy bar smoking crack with a couple of ex-schoolmates who always thought she was a snob. As for Nathan? He’s out of the picture, apparently moving on with his life elsewhere.

Allison’s life isn’t the only one in pieces. Ryan lives with her grandfather, who doesn’t know the first thing about raising a 21st-century teenager – especially one contending with the trauma of being suddenly, violently orphaned. She’s a star soccer player, but her focus is waning; she keeps getting in fights; her grades are slipping. There’s an incident where we see a different side of Daniel: He finds Ryan in bed with a boy, and Daniel pins the kid to the wall and nearly chokes him out. Daniel opens up his cabinet, finds the bottle of whiskey, opens it, sets it on the table and frowns really hard at it. Meanwhile, Allison bicycles herself to a church, pulls out one oxy tablet, bites half of it off, swallows and goes inside. It’s an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. And Daniel is there. Daniel, who shouldn’t have outlived his daughter, and should’ve been Allison’s father-in-law, and shouldn’t have done those terrible things he did back when he was a drunk. Awkward acknowledgments ensue. Allison tries to leave, but he entices her to stay. It’s hard enough to get to one of these meetings in the first place, and it might just be time to work through some stuff. If only it were so simple.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Garden State , of course – although credit where it’s due, as Braff doesn’t try to duplicate that success, although tonally, it feels quite simlar. And the last time I saw Freeman narrate and star in an at-times histrionic, intensely emotional dramedy was Feast of Love , a movie most everyone else forgot existed, for good reason.

Performance Worth Watching: As she did in Don’t Worry Darling , Pugh gives a disheveled mediocrity like A Good Person a performance it likely doesn’t deserve. She and Freeman – an old pro at Elevating The Material – have a way of cutting through the clutter to find some core truth about their characters.

Memorable Dialogue: Allison tries to order a Jack and Coke at breakfast, and is told that the bar doesn’t open this early in the morning. So she orders coffee then initiates a very ugly exchange with her breakfast companion.

Waiter, delivering coffee: Take it. I mixed in a little tequila for you. Allison takes a sip: That’s disgusting. Thank you.

Sex and Skin: Nothing you wouldn’t see on basic cable in the ’90s.

Our Take: Pugh and Freeman find the substance of this story wherever they can. When they share scenes, A Good Person feels like it’s getting somewhere – Daniel and Allison talk, show vulnerability, voice their concerns and regrets, dispense well-intentioned advice. It’s when the actors find and share the hearts of their characters. She was the thing in the title of the movie, and is possibly becoming less of one. He is the title of the thing in the movie, although there was a time when he wasn’t. Theirs is an unlikely friendship, thorny as it can be, and Pugh and Freeman make it believable.

Far less believable are the contrivances Braff, directing his own screenplay, routinely forces upon his characters. He tends to dole out irony, metaphor and sentimentality by the bulldozer bucketful, lacing the faux-weighty drama with clunky stabs at comedy, leading to an overly bombastic third-act climax that’s harder to swallow than a fistful of nuts and bolts. And that toy-train symbolism rigamarole — painstakingly building that halcyonic false reality is Daniel’s lifelong basement hobby — lands right on the nose with a very heavy hand. See, a life without pain, grief and regret is just tiny plastic people frozen in time in a model town where a train occasionally buzzes by, a train that represents how Life Goes On. And Allison can either hop on or stand pat, stuck in this horrific moment. It’s not that we don’t want her to get on board and become a better human being – we’d rather do it without the writer of the movie making their presence known with such mawkish and quasi-profundity.

Our Call: A Good Person is well-intentioned and offers admirable, fully committed performances by Pugh and Freeman, but its A Bit Muchness too often derails the train. SKIP IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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A Good Person review: Florence Pugh is stranded by an implausible story

Writer-director zach braff comes up well short with this odd blend of broad humor and deep tragedy.

Florence Pugh (left), Morgan Freeman (right) in A Good Person. Credit: Jeong Park / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

A Good Person doesn’t waste time. Its leading character Allison (Florence Pugh) is immediately presented as having a happy life that’s full of love and promise. Quickly, she’s involved in an accident that she survives but others don’t. Before long she’s hit rock bottom: she is unemployed and lives with her mother (Molly Shannon), she breaks up with her loving fiancé (Chinaza Uche), and she succumbs to opioid addiction. There’s an economy to the early goings that feels brisk but hints at storytelling problems, coming on like footnotes to the narrative instead of fully dramatized scenes.

Good Person, A (United States, 2023)

There are times when casting really does matter and A Good Person is an excellent example. Made with two lesser leads, this might have been no better than a Hallmark TV movie about addiction, recovery, and renewal. However, the participation of Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman, both in top form, transforms this from a middling weeper into a deeply felt meditation about the ravages of drug addiction. At its best, A Good Person is challenging. Freeman brings elements of quiet dignity and desperation to a role that’s more nuanced than it initially seems to be. Pugh is wrenching as Allison, a woman whose future is eclipsed by a tragedy resulting from a few seconds’ ill-advised decision.

For roughly two-thirds of its running length, Zach Braff’s screenplay provides an effective backdrop for the actors. The movie’s last act (beginning with a club scene set in New York City) forces the characters to play second fiddle to the manipulations of the storyline. I understand why Braff opted for a less destructive arc for his characters – few films are equally as powerful and unwatchable as Requiem for a Dream – but the final 30 minutes of A Good Person seem like they belong to a more conventional motion picture. Still, when I think about Allison (Florence Pugh) and Daniel (Morgan Freeman), it’s with tremendous empathy – empathy the results from the alchemy of the actors’ performances and Braff’s workmanlike direction.

A year later, Allison’s life is in shambles. She has broken up with Nathan and lives with her mother, Diane (Molly Shannon). She is reliant on the oxycontin prescribed by her doctor for pain management and, when her mother flushes her remaining pills down the toilet, she demeans herself at a local bar in exchange for a hit. Meanwhile, Nathan’s orphaned niece, high school athlete Ryan (Celeste O’Connor), has understandably had trouble adjusting to a life with no father or mother. She lives with her grandfather, ex-cop Daniel (Morgan Freeman), who is having trouble navigating the waters of being a caregiver in the 2020s. A recovering alcoholic (ten years sober) who was abusive toward Nathan as a child, Daniel is doing what he can to make amends by caring for Ryan. His form of personal therapy is an extensive basement train set that recreates the world as he wishes it was. Stress in his relationship with Ryan sends Daniel back to AA, which is where is “reunited” with Allison, who has just started. Although he blames her for the crash, he tries to put the feelings of anger and resentment behind him and help her on her personal journey of redemption.

Although narrative aspects of A Good Person occasionally veer into areas that are either cliched or artificial, many individual scenes are effective (at times powerful). Braff has a gift for dialogue (something that endeared his debut, Garden State , to many viewers) and having his words delivered by two gifted actors elevates character interaction. Had the movie entered theaters in the October-November time period, performances like those of Pugh and Freeman (and possibly Celeste O’Connor) might have had the “Oscar-worthy” characterization appended to their names. As a March release, however, they will be long forgotten by December. That doesn’t diminish their capacity to affect an emotional response or their strength in dramatizing the rigors of addiction.

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 10: Rebecca Ferguson attends the US Premiere of "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" presented by Paramount Pictures and Skydance at Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center on July 10, 2023, in New York, New York. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

Rebecca Ferguson went viral during her “Dune: Part Two” press tour in late February after she revealed on the “Reign With Josh Smith” podcast that she once had an “idiot” co-star who made her cry on set. The story led to a guessing game across social media platforms where people tried to figure out who exactly Ferguson was talking about, although the actor recently said on SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show” that she was “not expecting” that to be the takeaway from her comments.

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“But I got phone calls from amazing co-stars who I’ve worked with going, ‘You understand what you’ve done, right?’” Ferguson continued. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God. No, I didn’t think.’ I mean, it’s not my responsibility, to be honest. I don’t really care. You know, ‘You’re great, but my story is my story, and if you’re a good person, then don’t worry about it.’”

In her original interview on the “Reign With Josh Smith” podcast , Ferguson revealed she was once screamed at by a co-star on set to such an unprofessional degree that she ultimately fired back and requested she only act opposite the back of the actor’s head.

“I did a film with an absolute idiot of a co-star and this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out,” she said at the time. “And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at and I would cry walking off set.”

Ferguson said the experience was the first time she ever spoke up for herself as an actor on a set. She arrived on set the next day and told the actor, “You get off my set. You can F off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again.”

“And then I remember the producers came up and said, ‘You can’t do this to number one. We have to let this person be on set,’” Ferguson remembered. “And I said, ‘The person can turn around and I can act to the back of the head.’ And I did. I was so scared. I feel it now when I’m saying it.”

Ferguson ultimately addressed the situation to her director, who told her: “You’re right. I am not taking care of everyone else. I’m trying to fluff this person because it’s so unstable”

As Ferguson’s original comments gained traction on social media, the actor got some support from Dwayne Johnson, with whom she co-starred with all the way back on 2014’s “Hercules.”

“Hate seeing this but love seeing her stand up to bullshit,” Johnson posted on X . “Rebecca was my guardian angel sent from heaven on our set. I love that woman. I’d like to find out who did this.”

Watch Ferguson’s latest interview on SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show” in the video below.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Vampire tale is extremely gory but fun, smart; swearing.

Abigail Movie Poster: Abigail's ballet dress makes a circle all around her, with blood spatters visible on her chest

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Just because someone has acted badly in the past d

Joey has learned from her past mistakes and is att

Of the nine characters who appear on screen, four

Extreme blood and gore. Severed head, headless cor

One character misinterprets another's intentions a

Constant extreme language includes "f--k," "mother

Characters drink heavily from a well-stocked bar a

Positive Messages

Just because someone has acted badly in the past doesn't mean that they'll continue to do so, so it's not necessary to punish all past transgressions. Appreciate and celebrate people's efforts to improve themselves. Forgiveness is important.

Positive Role Models

Joey has learned from her past mistakes and is attempting to do the right thing. She's brave and cunning and continues in the fight when the chips are down. Despite the fact that she's participating in a kidnapping, she puts her skills to good use and hopes to earn the right to return to her family.

Diverse Representations

Of the nine characters who appear on screen, four are White men. One is Abigail (Irish actor Alisha Weir), and two others are women, including Melissa Barrera, who was born in Mexico, and Kathryn Newton, who's White. Two others are Black men (William Catlett and Giancarlo Esposito). All of the characters are on screen enough to have their own backgrounds and agency.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Extreme blood and gore. Severed head, headless corpse. Characters explode, spewing blood and gore everywhere. Character falls into a swimming pool filled with partial dead bodies, gore, muck, buzzing flies, etc. Vomiting/spewing blood. Woman is violently thrown around, bashed against walls and windows, choked, stabbed, etc. A person's face is partially chewed off; he gurgles and collapses. Guns and shooting, threatening with guns. Young vampire girl is shot and has her hand burned off by sunlight. Stabbing with metal cross, stake. Child injected with knockout drug. Vampires bite characters in the neck, leading to gory wounds. Characters fall from high places and crash to floor. Character rages with anger. Violent story told about characters being torn limb from limb.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

One character misinterprets another's intentions and comes on to her a little too strong; she reacts angrily. Character draws a penis on a passed-out character's face.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Constant extreme language includes "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," "bulls--t," "Jesus f---in' Christ," "a--hole," "bitch/son of a bitch," "dumbass," "ass," "d--k." Middle-finger gestures.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters drink heavily from a well-stocked bar and sometimes drink directly from the bottle. Smoking pot. A character is said to be a recovering drug abuser and is referred to as a "junkie."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Abigail is a horror movie about a team of kidnappers whose target turns out to be a ballet-dancing child vampire ( Alisha Weir ). It's well-made and even a little funny, but it's also extremely gory. Expect lots of vampire violence, blood and gore spewing everywhere, someone falling into a pool filled with dead bodies, a severed head and a headless corpse, biting, stabbing, vomiting blood, bite wounds, burn wounds, and more. A woman is thrown around, slammed against walls and windows, and choked and characters -- including a child -- are threatened with guns and other weapons. Language is constant and extremely strong, with uses of "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole," "bitch," etc. Characters drink, sometimes to excess, and one smokes pot. One person misinterprets another's intentions and comes on too strongly, a character draws a penis on another person's face while they sleep as a prank. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

Parents say (3)
Kids say (1)

Based on 3 parent reviews

A bloody good time (literally)

What's the story.

In ABIGAIL, a team of criminals -- code-named Joey ( Melissa Barrera ), Frank ( Dan Stevens ), Sammy ( Kathryn Newton ), Peter ( Kevin Durand ), Rickles ( William Catlett ), and Dean (Angus Cloud) -- are hired for a kidnapping. Their target is Abigail ( Alisha Weir ), the young, ballet-loving daughter of a rich and powerful man. The team pulls off its assignment easily and take their target to a remote house, where they're met by Lambert ( Giancarlo Esposito ). He tells them to keep an eye on Abigail, to wait for 24 hours, and to not disclose any personal information to one another. They're left with food and a fully stocked bar, and they begin to pass the night. But there's something they don't know about Abigail.

Is It Any Good?

Using a simple setup with a few clever twists, this gory, slick vampire movie layers in horror and humor in a most appealing manner, moving with ease and confidence almost the entire way. With Abigail , co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett , of the collective known as Radio Silence, add another winner to their distinctive filmography. It recalls elements of their earlier movies Ready or Not , which was set in a large, opulent mansion, and Scream VI , which had a bloody showdown in a large, beautiful theater. But this one adds in supernatural elements and a gleeful excess of gore.

The filmmakers establish a tone that incorporates humor without distracting from the true horror of the situation. It doesn't undercut or betray anything; the elements are melded together gracefully. There's time to build characters -- or at least enough that we know how we feel about them. And everything is clear and fluid; there's never any junky camerawork or cheap short cuts. It's entertaining throughout, except for a few small quibbles. In the final act, there's an overcooked element -- best not revealed -- that detracts from the quality of the story. And then there's Abigail herself, who's at least a couple of centuries old, spending all that time in the body of a small girl. Movies like Near Dark and Interview with the Vampire have also introduced characters who suffer gravely from a curse like that -- being an experienced person in an inexperienced body -- but Abigail never addresses this concept. Still, there's enough here to make this nail-and-neck-biter well worth recommending.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Abigail 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies ? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

Did you notice diverse representations in the movie? What about stereotypes ?

How is forgiveness demonstrated in the movie? Why can it be so difficult to forgive people?

What's the lasting appeal of vampire stories? Why do viewers never seem to tire of these monsters?

Movie Details

In theaters : April 19, 2024
Cast : Melissa Barrera , Dan Stevens , Kathryn Newton
Directors : Matt Bettinelli-Olpin , Tyler Gillett
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
Studio : Universal Pictures
Genre : Horror
Topics : Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
Run time : 109 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : strong bloody violence and gore throughout, pervasive language and brief drug use
Last updated : April 20, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Fright Night

Let the Right One In

From Dusk till Dawn

Vampire movies, movie monsters, related topics.

Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

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Gun supervisor for ‘Rust’ movie gets 18 months in prison for fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin on set

Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust,” at a sentencing hearing Monday in a New Mexico state court. (April 15)

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, center, sits with her attorney Jason Bowles and paralegal Carmella Sisneros during her sentencing hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin in 2021. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

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Hannah Gutierrez-Reed wipes her tears at her sentencing hearing in state district court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin in 2021. (Luis Sánchez Saturno/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP, Pool)

Olga Solovey, speaks by video from Ukraine, during the sentencing hearing for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in state district court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday April 15, 2024. Gutierrez Reed, the armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Solovey’s daughter, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal in 2021. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

FILE - This aerial photo shows the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Oct. 23, 2021, used for the film “Rust.” A New Mexico judge Monday, April 15, 2024, sentenced “Rust” movie armorer to 18 months in prison for fatal on-set shooting by Alec Baldwin. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey speaks to the media outside the Santa Fe County Courthouse after Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison, following a hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday April 15, 2024. Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal in 2021. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal via AP)

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, center, with her attorney Jason Bowles and paralegal Carmella Sisneros during her sentencing hearing in state district court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Reed, the armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin in 2021. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, center, with her attorney Jason Bowles, left, and paralegal Carmella Sisneros prepare for a sentencing hearing in state district court in Santa Fe, N.M., on Monday April 15, 2024. Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin in 2021. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, with her attorney Jason Bowles, enters the courtroom for her sentencing hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday April 15, 2024. Gutierrez-Reed, armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin in 2021. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, left, and paralegal Carmella Sisneros await sentencing in state district court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday April 15, 2024. Reed, the armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin in 2021. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed watches her father Thell Reed leave the podium after he asked the judge not impose prison time on his daughter, during a sentencing hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday April 15, 2024. Gutierrez-Reed, armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin in 2021. Gutierrez Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed makes a statement to the court during her sentencing hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Monday April 15, 2024. Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” was sentenced to 18 months in prison. She was convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin in 2021. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A movie weapons supervisor was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust,” during a hearing Monday in which tearful family members and friends gave testimonials that included calls for justice and a punishment that would instill greater accountability for safety on film sets.

Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in March by a jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and has been held for more than a month at a county jail on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.

Gutierrez-Reed was unsuccessful in her plea for a lesser sentencing, telling the judge she was not the monster that people have made her out to be and had tried to do her best on the set despite not having “proper time, resources and staffing.” Gutierrez-Reed plans to appeal the judgement and sentence, defense attorney Jason Bowles said in an email.

Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

FILE - Alec Baldwin attends the NYU Tisch School of the Arts 50th Anniversary Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, April 4, 2016, in New York. A New Mexico judge has set a trial date for Baldwin on an involuntary manslaughter charge stemming from a deadly shooting on the set of the Western “Rust.” Jury selection is scheduled to begin July 9, with the trial starting the following day. The proceedings are expected to last eight days. Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on the film, pleaded not guilty in January. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File)

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He is scheduled for trial in July at a courthouse in Santa Fe.

The sentence against Gutierrez-Reed was delivered by New Mexico Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who is overseeing proceedings against Baldwin. The judge said anything less than the maximum sentence would not be appropriate given that Gutierrez-Reed’s recklessness amounted to a serious violent offense.

“You were the armorer, the one that stood between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone,” the judge told Gutierrez-Reed. “You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. But for you, Ms. Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner and a little boy would have his mother.”

Gutierrez-Reed teared up as Hutchins’ agent, Craig Mizrahi, spoke about the cinematographer’s creativity and described her as a rising star in Hollywood. He said it was a chain of events that led to Hutchins’ death and that if the armorer had been doing her job, that chain would have been broken.

Friends and family recalled Hutchins as courageous, tenacious and compassionate — a “bright beam of light” who could have gone on to accomplish great things within the film industry.

“I really feel that this was due to negligence,” Steven Metz, a close friend, testified. “This case needs to set a precedent for all the other actors, and cinematographers and every one on set whose lives are at risk when we have negligence in the hands of an armorer, a supposed armorer.”

FILE - This aerial photo shows the movie set of "Rust" at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. Prosecutors in New Mexico plan to drop an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film “Rust.” Baldwin’s attorneys said in a statement Thursday that they are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

This aerial photo shows the movie set of “Rust” at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Los Angeles-based attorney Gloria Allred read a statement by Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, who said her life had been split in two and that time didn’t heal, rather it only prolonged her pain and suffering. A video of a tearful Solovey, who lives in Ukraine, also was played for the court.

“It’s the hardest thing to lose a child. There’s no words to describe,” Solovey said in her native language.

The Ukrainian relatives of Hutchins are seeking damages in her death from Baldwin in connection with the shooting. Allred said after Monday’s hearing that the family supports his criminal prosecution.

Defense attorneys for Gutierrez-Reed requested leniency in sentencing — including a possible conditional discharge that would avoid further jail time and leave an adjudication of guilt off her record if certain conditions are met.

FILE - A musician plays a violin behind a photograph of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a vigil in her honor in Albuquerque, N.M., Oct. 23, 2021. Special prosecutors said Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, that they will seek to recharge actor Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting of Hutchins on a movie set in New Mexico. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

Gutierrez-Reed was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation. She also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe where firearms are prohibited.

Defense attorneys have highlighted Gutierrez-Reed’s relatively young age of 26 “and the devastating effect a felony will have on her life going forward,” arguing that she will forever be affected negatively by intense publicity associated with her prosecution in parallel with an A-list actor.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey urged the judge to impose the maximum prison sentence and designate Gutierrez-Reed as a “serious violent offender” to limit her eligibility for a sentence reduction later, describing the defendant’s behavior on the set of “Rust” as exceptionally reckless.

Morrissey told the judge Monday that she reviewed nearly 200 phone calls that Gutierrez-Reed had made from jail over the last month. She said she was hoping there would be a moment when the defendant would take responsibility for what happened or express genuine remorse.

“That moment has never come,” Morrissey said. “Ms. Gutierrez continues to refuse to accept responsibility for her role in the death of Halyna Hutchins.”

The judge indicated that summary transcripts of Gutierrez-Reed’s telephone conversations from jail weighed in the sentencing.

“Hannah says that people have accidents and people die, it’s an unfortunate part of life but it doesn’t mean she should be in jail,” Marlowe Sommer said. “The word ‘remorse’ — a deep regret coming from a sense of guilt for past wrongs — that’s not you.”

Defense attorneys argued Monday that Gutierrez-Reed was remorseful and had breakdowns over Hutchins’ death. They also pointed to systemic problems that led to the shooting.

“Rust” assistant director and safety coordinator Dave Halls last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm and completed a sentence of six months unsupervised probation. “Rust” props master Sarah Zachry, who shared some responsibilities over firearms on the set, signed an agreement with prosecutors to avoid prosecution in return with her cooperation.

The pending firearms charge against Gutierrez-Reed stems from an incident at a Santa Fe bar, days before she was hired to work as the armorer on “Rust.” Prosecutors say investigations into the fatal shooting led to the discovery of a selfie video in which Gutierrez-Reed filmed herself carrying a firearm into the bar, while defense attorneys allege vindictive prosecution.

The spelling of the judge’s name has been corrected to Mary Marlowe Sommer, instead of Summer.

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Taylor swift review writer's name left out over safety concerns, taylor swift magazine redacts reviewer's name ... swifties sent violent threats.

Taylor Swift 's fans jump to defend their girl T-Swizzle ... and, one magazine's so concerned they removed a reviewer's byline -- 'cause they worried the person might get threats.

Paste, an entertainment/culture outlet, published its review of "The Tortured Poets Department" Friday ... but didn't include a specific author's name in the byline.

The magazine included an editor's note on its account ... saying when it reviewed "Lover" back in 2019 the writer who penned the piece received threats of violence -- and, the mag didn't want to put an employee in danger.

Probably a good call ... 'cause the review absolutely trashes Swift's 11th studio album -- saying it infantilizes its audience and comparing it to controversial poet Rupi Kaur 's work.

The opening line sets the tone for the entire piece ... with the writer starting off by saying, "Sylvia Plath did not stick her head in an oven for this!" -- so, yeah the review's pretty critical.

But, Paste's review ain't stopping people from listening to the album ... 'cause 'TTPD' reportedly made history when it became the first album to garner more than 300 million Spotify streams in just one day.

BTW ... people online have mixed reactions to Paste's decision -- with some saying her fans should be allowed to debate with a person who's criticizing their fav artist while others applauded Paste for protecting their writer.

Paste better be careful though ... or they might end up getting name-dropped in Taylor's 12th album!

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Critic’s Pick

‘Civil War’ Review: We Have Met the Enemy and It Is Us. Again.

In Alex Garland’s tough new movie, a group of journalists led by Kirsten Dunst, as a photographer, travels a United States at war with itself.

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‘Civil War’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The writer and director alex garland narrates a sequence from his film..

“My name is Alex Garland and I’m the writer director of ‘Civil War’. So this particular clip is roughly around the halfway point of the movie and it’s these four journalists and they’re trying to get, in a very circuitous route, from New York to DC, and encountering various obstacles on the way. And this is one of those obstacles. What they find themselves stuck in is a battle between two snipers. And they are close to one of the snipers and the other sniper is somewhere unseen, but presumably in a large house that sits over a field and a hill. It’s a surrealist exchange and it’s surrounded by some very surrealist imagery, which is they’re, in broad daylight in broad sunshine, there’s no indication that we’re anywhere near winter in the filming. In fact, you can kind of tell it’s summer. But they’re surrounded by Christmas decorations. And in some ways, the Christmas decorations speak of a country, which is in disrepair, however silly it sounds. If you haven’t put away your Christmas decorations, clearly something isn’t going right.” “What’s going on?” “Someone in that house, they’re stuck. We’re stuck.” “And there’s a bit of imagery. It felt like it hit the right note. But the interesting thing about that imagery was that it was not production designed. We didn’t create it. We actually literally found it. We were driving along and we saw all of these Christmas decorations, basically exactly as they are in the film. They were about 100 yards away, just piled up by the side of the road. And it turned out, it was a guy who’d put on a winter wonderland festival. People had not dug his winter wonderland festival, and he’d gone bankrupt. And he had decided just to leave everything just strewn around on a farmer’s field, who was then absolutely furious. So in a way, there’s a loose parallel, which is the same implication that exists within the film exists within real life.” “You don’t understand a word I say. Yo. What’s over there in that house?” “Someone shooting.” “It’s to do with the fact that when things get extreme, the reasons why things got extreme no longer become relevant and the knife edge of the problem is all that really remains relevant. So it doesn’t actually matter, as it were, in this context, what side they’re fighting for or what the other person’s fighting for. It’s just reduced to a survival.”

By Manohla Dargis

A blunt, gut-twisting work of speculative fiction, “Civil War” opens with the United States at war with itself — literally, not just rhetorically. In Washington, D.C., the president is holed up in the White House; in a spookily depopulated New York, desperate people wait for water rations. It’s the near-future, and rooftop snipers, suicide bombers and wild-eyed randos are in the fight while an opposition faction with a two-star flag called the Western Forces, comprising Texas and California — as I said, this is speculative fiction — is leading the charge against what remains of the federal government. If you’re feeling triggered, you aren’t alone.

It’s mourning again in America, and it’s mesmerizingly, horribly gripping. Filled with bullets, consuming fires and terrific actors like Kirsten Dunst running for cover, the movie is a what-if nightmare stoked by memories of Jan. 6. As in what if the visions of some rioters had been realized, what if the nation was again broken by Civil War, what if the democratic experiment called America had come undone? If that sounds harrowing, you’re right. It’s one thing when a movie taps into childish fears with monsters under the bed; you’re eager to see what happens because you know how it will end (until the sequel). Adult fears are another matter.

In “Civil War,” the British filmmaker Alex Garland explores the unbearable if not the unthinkable, something he likes to do. A pop cultural savant, he made a splashy zeitgeist-ready debut with his 1996 best seller “The Beach,” a novel about a paradise that proves deadly, an evergreen metaphor for life and the basis for a silly film . That things in the world are not what they seem, and are often far worse, is a theme that Garland has continued pursuing in other dark fantasies, first as a screenwriter (“ 28 Days Later ”), and then as a writer-director (“ Ex Machina ”). His résumé is populated with zombies, clones and aliens, though reliably it is his outwardly ordinary characters you need to keep a closer watch on.

By the time “Civil War” opens, the fight has been raging for an undisclosed period yet long enough to have hollowed out cities and people’s faces alike. It’s unclear as to why the war started or who fired the first shot. Garland does scatter some hints; in one ugly scene, a militia type played by a jolting, scarily effective Jesse Plemons asks captives “what kind of American” they are. Yet whatever divisions preceded the conflict are left to your imagination, at least partly because Garland assumes you’ve been paying attention to recent events. Instead, he presents an outwardly and largely post-ideological landscape in which debates over policies, politics and American exceptionalism have been rendered moot by war.

‘Civil War’ Is Designed to Disturb You

A woman with a bulletproof vest that says “Press” stands in a smoky city street.

One thing that remains familiar amid these ruins is the movie’s old-fashioned faith in journalism. Dunst, who’s sensational, plays Lee, a war photographer who works for Reuters alongside her friend, a reporter, Joel (the charismatic Wagner Moura). They’re in New York when you meet them, milling through a crowd anxiously waiting for water rations next to a protected tanker. It’s a fraught scene; the restless crowd is edging into mob panic, and Lee, camera in hand, is on high alert. As Garland’s own camera and Joel skitter about, Lee carves a path through the chaos, as if she knows exactly where she needs to be — and then a bomb goes off. By the time it does, an aspiring photojournalist, Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), is also in the mix.

The streamlined, insistently intimate story takes shape once Lee, Joel, Jessie and a veteran reporter, Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), pile into a van and head to Washington. Joel and Lee are hoping to interview the president (Nick Offerman), and Sammy and Jessie are riding along largely so that Garland can make the trip more interesting. Sammy serves as a stabilizing force (Henderson fills the van with humanizing warmth), while Jessie plays the eager upstart Lee takes under her resentful wing. It’s a tidily balanced sampling that the actors, with Garland’s banter and via some cozy downtime, turn into flesh-and-blood personalities, people whose vulnerability feeds the escalating tension with each mile.

As the miles and hours pass, Garland adds diversions and hurdles, including a pair of playful colleagues, Tony and Bohai (Nelson Lee and Evan Lai), and some spooky dudes guarding a gas station. Garland shrewdly exploits the tense emptiness of the land, turning strangers into potential threats and pretty country roads into ominously ambiguous byways. Smartly, he also recurrently focuses on Lee’s face, a heartbreakingly hard mask that Dunst lets slip brilliantly. As the journey continues, Garland further sketches in the bigger picture — the dollar is near-worthless, the F.B.I. is gone — but for the most part, he focuses on his travelers and the engulfing violence, the smoke and the tracer fire that they often don’t notice until they do.

Despite some much-needed lulls (for you, for the narrative rhythm), “Civil War” is unremittingly brutal or at least it feels that way. Many contemporary thrillers are far more overtly gruesome than this one, partly because violence is one way unimaginative directors can put a distinctive spin on otherwise interchangeable material: Cue the artful fountains of arterial spray. Part of what makes the carnage here feel incessant and palpably realistic is that Garland, whose visual approach is generally unfussy, doesn’t embellish the violence, turning it into an ornament of his virtuosity. Instead, the violence is direct, at times shockingly casual and unsettling, so much so that its unpleasantness almost comes as a surprise.

If the violence feels more intense than in a typical genre shoot ’em up, it’s also because, I think, with “Civil War,” Garland has made the movie that’s long been workshopped in American political discourse and in mass culture, and which entered wider circulation on Jan. 6. The raw power of Garland’s vision unquestionably owes much to the vivid scenes that beamed across the world that day when rioters, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “ MAGA civil war ,” swarmed the Capitol. Even so, watching this movie, I also flashed on other times in which Americans have relitigated the Civil War directly and not, on the screen and in the streets.

Movies have played a role in that relitigation for more than a century, at times grotesquely. Two of the most famous films in history — D.W. Griffith’s 1915 racist epic “The Birth of a Nation” (which became a Ku Klux Klan recruitment tool) and the romantic 1939 melodrama “Gone With the Wind” — are monuments to white supremacy and the myth of the Southern Lost Cause. Both were critical and popular hits. In the decades since, filmmakers have returned to the Civil War era to tell other stories in films like “Glory,” “Lincoln” and “Django Unchained” that in addressing the American past inevitably engage with its present.

There are no lofty or reassuring speeches in “Civil War,” and the movie doesn’t speak to the better angels of our nature the way so many films try to. Hollywood’s longstanding, deeply American imperative for happy endings maintains an iron grip on movies, even in ostensibly independent productions. There’s no such possibility for that in “Civil War.” The very premise of Garland’s movie means that — no matter what happens when or if Lee and the rest reach Washington — a happy ending is impossible, which makes this very tough going. Rarely have I seen a movie that made me so acutely uncomfortable or watched an actor’s face that, like Dunst’s, expressed a nation’s soul-sickness so vividly that it felt like an X-ray.

Civil War Rated R for war violence and mass death. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this review misidentified an organization in the Civil War in the movie. It is the Western Forces, not the Western Front.

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Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

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