THE GOOD GUY

Director: Julio DePietro
Stars: Alexis Bledel, Scott Porter, Bryan Greenberg, Andrew McCarthy, Anna Chlumsky
Year: 2009
Rating: R

With an attractive young cast forming the (potential) love triangle and the amazing New York City as a backdrop, The Good Guy plays not so much like a feature film as it does a Lifetime or Hallmark movie-of-the-week, only bumped up a notch. The lead actors keep it slightly above that notch and are a pleasure to watch, but the script itself is a letdown, with foreshadowing that's never quite acted upon, and a story that - in the end - simply doesn't have a lot of conflict, or for that matter any kind of revelation for a resolution.

Maybe it's because viewers are supposed to spend the film wondering who is the good guy, and who is not. Alexis Bledel ("Gilmore Girls") stars as Beth, a lovely young Manhattanite with brains, beauty, and a love for keeping the planet (and her city) green. As the film opens (after a prologue more than suggesting their relationship is in trouble, the rest of the film acting as a flashback), Beth is dating Wall Street investment banker Tommy Fielding (Scott Porter of "Friday Night Lights"), a boisterous and very sure-of-himself handsome young man with money and friends ... and the most beautiful girlfriend in the world. Beth and Tommy's relationship is still fairly new, but seems more than ideal; they are the picture of two people falling in love in the greatest city in the world, young and attractive and with their futures in their hands.

But then Daniel Seaver (Bryan Greenberg) comes along. The newbie at Tommy's job, Daniel is inexperienced and not nearly as suave or savvy as he needs to be for the job he's supposed to be doing. When the departure of another guy from Tommy's group at work opens the door for Daniel to move up, Tommy - always the good buddy - takes Daniel under his wing, training the sensitive, quiet, handsome ex-soldier in everything from how to dress, how to maneuver the market ... even how to pick up girls. As Tommy's new project, Daniel indeed becomes more sure of himself, learning fast - as Tommy spends more and more of his time with Daniel and the guys, and less with Beth. And when Beth and Daniel finally meet - Daniel joining Beth's all-girl book club, no less - the inevitable question of Daniel's humongous attraction to Beth becomes obvious, even as the film hints that maybe Daniel has a past, and is not quite the gentle soul he seems to be.

Therefore, even as the couple evolves into a potential triangle, at the same time the script never really fulfills a lot of the promises made throughout. That's about as much as can be said without spoilers - but needless to say, while the cast (particularly the three leads, with special emphasis on Bryan Greenberg) does the most with the material they have, that material (as mentioned before) is pretty much TV-movie material. Writer/director Julio DePietro doesn't build up much suspense in the film, giving the characters or story enough development to really make viewers care much about who the "good guy" really is - which, in the end, is not even that big a surprise when revealed.

The film is great to look at, with an honest feel of sincerity, but overall is a letdown that's been done before on television. Unless you're a fan of someone in the cast, this one is harmless but could be missed. **1/2 - Reel Mediocre-Reel Cool