Good Bad Things Review: Love & Disability

In Good Bad Things, director Shane Stanger and disabled actor Danny Kurtzman bring a unique and necessary perspective to the rom-com genre.

Danny (Danny Kurtzman) and his best friend and roommate Jason (Brett Dier, Scrambled) run a marketing company and are pitching a rebrand for a dating app called Rubi. Danny, who recently had a difficult breakup with his girlfriend, decides to join the app “for research” but ends up matching with Madi (Jessica Parker Kennedy), a free-spirited photographer specializing in boudoir shoots. Despite a rocky start, Madi and Danny create a relationship that pushes the boundaries that Danny has set up to keep from being hurt. But as Danny opens himself up to the possibility of love, he wonders if his instinct to close himself off from a romantic relationship was the correct one.

Good Bad Things is the result of the real-life friendship between Stanger and Kurtzman, with Kurtzman as the co-writer. As a result, the movie can tackle questions surrounding the issue of disability from an insider perspective rather than speculating on how a disabled person would handle any of these situations. Indeed, Kurtzman directly speaks to the way that media from abled people categorizes people with disabilities and how those conversations about disability can create a kind of script that disabled people often end up believing about themselves against their will.

Because of Stanger and Kurtzman’s relationship, the friendship between Danny and Jason is the high point of the film. Dier perfectly balances his performance as a fiercely loyal and empathetic friend with his ability to be a believable bro-y lady’s man. Their relationship anchors Good Bad Things by showing us that one can have a supportive network of friends and still feel on the outside.

This unintentional exclusion is shown in a number of small ways. We see Danny hanging out at the bar with his friends and them joking about how he’s a lightweight when it comes to drinking, not taking into account how his disability affects his ability to process alcohol.  It is obvious when he attends a photo shoot with Madi and some of her friends: they see the pool as a major perk, while he is concerned about how he can safely enter the water. At no point is anyone cruel toward Danny, but his needs aren’t always taken into account, which is why something as simple as Madi moving his straw from one drink to another when they are on a first date is a striking moment of tenderness.

Kurtzman brilliantly expresses the fear of becoming someone’s project rather than their partner. His performance never veers into the territory of melodrama but instead shows the trepidation of exposing yourself to a potential romantic partner. What makes it work is that, while there are levels to this that are unique to someone who has muscular dystrophy, that feeling of vulnerability is universal to many on the dating scene.

My lone complaint with Good Bad Things is that the romantic element of this rom-com seems underwritten. It’s not that the romance is unbelievable; rather, the story feels at its thinnest with that relationship. The strong foundation of the first date between Madi and Danny doesn’t have enough follow-through to make the inevitable “break up, then get back together” part have as much emotional resonance as one might hope. 

Despite that minor critique, it is refreshing to see someone with a disability on screen. It is beneficial to abled viewers to remember that things like using a straw or a mobility device are necessary for many people. Considerations like how to navigate stairs or an uneven sidewalk are things that people have to make. But even with some differences, at our core, we all want to form connections with other people and be loved for who we are. 

In one of the most compelling moments in the film, Danny opens up to his father (played beautifully by Gale Hansen) and talks about how he is struggling in his relationship with Madi. Danny asks if the bad feeling that he has is that things need to change in order to get better, and maybe what he’s feeling is one of those “good bad things.” Any time we put ourselves out into the world to be judged, there is a chance that it can go sideways, and we can be hurt. But Good Bad Things is also a reminder that sometimes, it’s just good.

Good Bad Things will be available to watch on digital platforms from February 4, 2025.

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