“Good Bad Things” is a personal, simple story about the enormous problem that we all face and fear: the need to be acknowledged and accepted and the prevailing sentiment as to how people would accept them. It is written by Shane D. Stanger who is a lifelong friend of the actor and writer Danny Kurtzman who plays a man by the name of Danny in the movie. The film is also based on Kurtzman’s life as a muscular dystrophy sufferer.
The film’s Danny owns a small ad agency together with his best friend and housemate Jason (a hilarious Brett Dier who executes the perfect ratio of bro-ness and loyalty). Their funds are almost depleted and now they are trying to fetch Rubi, a dating app that is believed to be an ideal candidate to pitch to. So far, it seems that Danny is well surrounded by some loyal friends as well as an ex-fiancée called Bianca, who left him with emotionally deep cuts. The people around him are easy and friendly. They complain if a place does not have wheelchair access and carry him up and down stares without making a fuss.
But his buddies are heavy drinkers and do not take into consideration that Danny can withstand only a few beers at most. As a result, they don’t realize that Danny has to suffer watching them become emotionally more entwined and that he would probably end up being in the everlasting friend zone.
Danny is “doing some research” while creating his account on Rubi, however, he is unwilling to admit to himself, that he may be in search of a girlfriend somewhere inside. He publishes his profile where he uploads a cropped photo of himself concealing the scooter, the upper part above his shoulders, and as he confesses to Jason, he gets to swipe a few. One reply comes from Madi, a photographer with a big heart who was also played by Jessica Parker Kennedy (a big surprise David!). After this discussion, and how to approach the situation, he finally gets the courage and brings it up in a reply to Madi. To his great surprise, Madi seems so relaxed about the whole situation and agrees to a meeting.
Here, the underlying aspects of standard brutal romances recoil in shock because for Danny, the disability is structure rather than an aspect of intimacy. It gets very real when Madi first asks him to come along Jason, the two of his friends arranging for her to ‘whisper-shroom’ bang on about how even ‘Danny would go skinny dipping in Palm Springs.’
Kurtzman had never acted or been to a set and only joined Stanger to work together although has a very considerate demeanor on the screen. People around him know that the Danny of the story tends to be pretty good with his job but is somewhat reserved and delicate when it comes to interpersonal relationships. And it is again Kurtzman the actor who presents many of those facets. All his friends would say they love Danny and are on the same wavelength with him. Even Jason, who extends, bathes, and supports Danny but entirely misses out on loneliness of Danny, the bro-ness and the gap around the able-bodied world.
Luckily, Stanger and Kurtzman made Madi a photographer. It is her life and profession to see what others don’t and her enthusiasm is to literally capture angles that aren’t ordinarily seen. She is almost a Psyche type character where she is shrouded in darkness searching for the light of Cupid’s enchantment. To this day, Madi is drawn to beauty that many people would consider disfigured or unattractive.
It’s also easy for her to see Danny as a man and not a man who is just a friend zoned for good. And when he starts to view himself from th e perspective of Madi, his heart expands. For the time being, he dresses in dark tones. But after a tender moment, when he assists Madi, he explains that part of him clothed in the color of life and rebirth, green. The reversal of the sounds of the two names has a similar sense about their interrelation.
The screenplay does not match the level of acting, in particular it often is the weakest segment in the motion picture focused on love. That conversations never do achieve what they would like. There is no much of a spark that would tempt us to wonder why Danny and Madi find themselves tenderly inclined towards each other. On the other hand, the transition from the focus on Danny and Madi’s relationship to their encounter with Rubi is rather well done. Danny does it rather well in the end to salvage the presentation even when Jason starts it off clumsily. The scene that still has a lingering impact is where Danny and Madi are arguing and he breaks down during the quarell, the emotive yelling coupled with strong acting supports the wohle scene well. Danny shows great emotions, crying on his father’s chest, when his father apparently looks rather good. In fight against the terror that his already shows. “For things to get better they have to change, and that is scary. What if this is one of those good bad things?” It is a tough question to answer, but this movie is one of those good good things.
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