Written By Matthew Wiley
Good Dick follows a poor guy (Jason Ritter) living out of his car and working at a video store who takes a liking to one of the store’s customers, a lonely coffee shop girl who is not interested (Marianna Palka). One night after renting/recommending the girl some erotica, he decides to follow her home; he even parks his car across the street and sleeps outside of her apartment. He finally buzzes her apartment saying that he is with UPS to get into her building, later saying that his great aunt lives in her building. She is not a fan of his advances, but after a while and many attempts by him, the two develop a quirky relationship. She always acts mean towards him despite his generosity towards her. Even though she pushes him away all the time, he continues to be persistent. Eventually, the two begin watching porn together and he starts to sleep on her couch, one night winning a bizarre bet to sleep with her in her bed. After he tries to get her to meet his friends/coworkers, she begins to act crazy, much crazier than normal. It seems no matter what he tries to get her to like him, she always gets psychotic. Just when it seems that the two will make it together, she freaks out worse than the time before.
The film was written and directed by Palka, who created Morning Knight Productions with Ritter; Morning Knight is the production company behind the film. It costars Eric Edelstein, Martin Starr and Mark Webber as Ritter’s coworkers and Tom Arnold as the girl’s father. Although the acting is good, the film drags in some areas and is generally confusing at points; the girl’s attitude and actions make absolutely no sense.
Video
The film is presented original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and looks good for a standard DVD. Though the film is low budget, it still retains a good quality and looks clean. The colors stand out and are well-balanced.
Audio
Good Dick features Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and 2.0 stereo. The film has a good instrumental soundtrack written entirely by Jared Nelson Smith. All of the dialog is clear and easy to understand as well. It also features Spanish subtitles and English captions.
Special Features
Special features are sparse on Good Dick, but it does feature two trailers and a short film entitled, “Good Dick Goes to Sundance” and is exactly what the title describes. It features some interesting camera angles and shows Ritter and Palka at a photo shoot where Ritter is explaining the film to the photographer. The short also shows Ritter doing interviews at Sundance and performing some behind-the-scenes shenanigans, bouncing around on a cushion in a back room; it basically just follows the stars as they make their way around the film festival. Good Dick also features a gag reel with some entertaining bloopers.
Final Thoughts
Good Dick tries to show a dysfunctional love story, but only really succeeds in frustrating the viewer, which may even be the point. If that is the case, then it is worth a watch. As far as indie films go, it’s a pretty good film with a decent soundtrack to accompany it. It takes the “psycho girlfriend” idea to the next level.
