A story that is as old as the beginning of time begins like this.  A highly successful man is dedicated to his job in order to provide for his family.  However, his family resents him because he spends too much time with his job and not enough time with them. This eventually leads to the family turning on the man, leaving him with nothing but his job.

It may seem a bit too simplified but in reality, Goodrich is the story of a man who was guilty of the sin of not giving the women in his life enough attention. Michael Keaton stars as a husband and a father named Andy.  Andy wakes up in the middle of the night to a phone call from his wife who has told him that she has checked herself into a rehab facility for 90 days and she refuses to make contact with him during that time period.

 Andy is forced to take care of the couple’s young 9-year-old twins as his wife is in rehab.  As Andy struggles with understanding how he’s found himself in this situation he realizes that he hasn’t been as Present as he thought that he was as it seems like everyone in town knew about his wife’s drug problem except for him.  and he now has to pick up the pieces of his life by trying to reconcile a relationship with his adult daughter played by Mila Kunis along with trying to keep his struggling business afloat during one of the most trying times in his life.

There’s something to be said about going back to an old-school style of filmmaking or at the very least an old-school style of Storytelling.  Michael Keaton is back doing another film that doesn’t have any superhero tie-ins but it’s simply a story about a man realizing that in an attempt to be a successful businessman, he has let people in his life down as a result.

When it comes to smaller roles that allow him to be more character-driven,  Keaton is usually pretty solid at being the leading man of a story. The film Goodrich allows him to play with elements of both comedy and drama through the lens of a successful Art Gallery owner whose life is seemingly falling apart yet the only one who is surprised by it is himself.

Mila Kunis is in the movie playing his daughter Grace who is an expecting mother struggling with the resentment that she feels like she never got the relationship with her dad the way that his newer children have received.  On one hand, the film is certainly a movie that, whether intentionally or not, highlights the importance of having a father figure in one’s life and the damage of being an absentee dad can do to a family.

However there’s one glaring flaw with the story,  it is as you’re watching the movie you have one character after another lambasting Andy for not paying enough attention to his family, However, the character himself seems to be a pretty decent guy.  Andy is not neglecting his family because he doesn’t care about them,  he is simply too busy trying to manage his multi-million dollar business to give them the attention that they need. If anything he is guilty of unintentionally making poor decisions that affect those around him. 

When the film goes out of its way to make him seem like the villain of the story the audience is not connecting to this reality because they’re not seeing a man who is causing a wedge in his family out of malice. In a lot of ways you can consider Goodrich to be a Hollywood Hallmark movie but the story presentation that it’s giving you life issues through the lens of a Los Angeles Elite.

 Well, the target audience of this film will certainly be those looking for more wholesome content,  the film is likely not going to be relatable to the overwhelming majority as there’s not much in common between your average moviegoer and a multi-millionaire living and dealing with life the way people in Los Angeles.

Most families don’t have nannies, a big house, multiple families, or an Uber Progressive clientele like many who live in the upper class of California seem to have. In a lot of ways, this is a story that mirrors the upbringing of the writer and the director Hallie Meyers-Shyer who was the child of two parents well-known in the entertainment industry. This is a story that certainly hits home for Hallie,  she may be on the island by herself when it comes to connecting with anyone else.

 With that said, Goodrich is certainly a very solid film that in essence is a stroll down memory lane when it comes to the Simplicity of Hollywood storytelling. 

3/5 

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