'Friends' sweetheart flaunts dark side in 'The Good Girl'

LOS ANGELES -- Jennifer Aniston is showing off her unfriendly side.

In the new film "The Good Girl," the sweetheart co-star of "Friends" backs away from her glamorous TV image to play a dejected, small-town woman who turns to adultery to lash out at the people in her monotonous life.

"I've always performed more on the comedic side because it was a safe haven, and it made me feel good," Aniston said. "So it was a challenge for me to explore that side of myself, which we all have, which is sometimes sad, and dark and depressed."

Her frustrated character, Justine, starts an affair with a younger co-worker (Jake Gyllenhaal) at the Retail Rodeo discount store and is later blackmailed into having sex with a sleazy acquaintance who discovers her secret.

Justine's life comes apart as she learns she is pregnant -- and her oblivious, dope-smoking husband (John C. Reilly) discovers he is sterile.

Although the filmmakers describe "The Good Girl" as a dark comedy, the only light moments come from supporting characters, like Zooey Deschanel as a deadpan, chatty cosmetics girl and Tim Blake Nelson playing a vile, lecherous house painter.

Justine is unremittingly morose and angry.

"I see in your eyes that you hate the world," she says in monotone to her illicit young lover. "I hate it, too. ... You know what I'm talking about?"

Aniston also performs sex scenes, including one with Nelson in which he is constantly yelling at his barking dog.

"It takes a lot of courage for Jennifer, who's been so successful creating an image of herself in our culture, to dispense with all that and perform this role in a way that considered the character first and 'Jennifer Aniston: movie star' second," Nelson said.

With "Friends" entering its ninth and final season, Aniston said she was eager to show she can do more than just romantic comedy after nearly a decade of playing Rachel Green on the sitcom.

Rachel "is like an old, comfy shoe ... where it's just comfortable and familiar and cozy," Aniston said.