Customer Reviews

Jane White Is Sick and Twisted

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Jane White is Sick & Twisted is a treat to anyone who considers themselves a "real" film buff (ie, probably NOT for everyone)! It's the kind of comedy that lets you in on the joke and winks at you from time to time. Wil Wheaton (Stand By Me) is funnier here than Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler's last few performances put together! It's great fun to spot ALL the cameos : Squiggy, Screech, Marsha Brady, the chicks from The Wonder Years, etc. Get twisted and see this movie!

A cult classic in the making, Jane White is Sick and Twisted stars Kim Little (Diagnosis: Murder) as a television-obsessed shut-in who's convinced herself that she's the daughter of controversial talk show host Gerry King (David Lander; Laverne & Shirley). Jane dreams of one day reuniting with her estranged pop, penning love letters to serial killers and taking a part-time gig as a tranvestite prostitute in the hopes of earning an appearance on his show. Throughout her trek to Chicago, Jane encounters the intoxication of romance, the dizzying disappointment of heartbreak, she-males, sex power-imbuing aliens, serial killers, and a gaggle of familiar faces.

Supplements: Jane White is Sick and Twisted is a pretty loaded special edition releases, and its mountain of extras begins with an audio commentary. Director David Michael Latt, Kim Little, and Chris Hardwick keep a constant flow of discussion going, and it's equal parts informative and entertaining. Hardwick, as was also the case with the movie, provides most of the laughs, such as when he offers tips on how to get Bijou Phillips to sleep with you. As much as he interrupts David Latt early into the commentary, Hardwick takes on almost a moderator role later on, lobbing a number of questions and prompting discussion. Viewers with an interest in low-budget filmmaking ought to enjoy this commentary, which tackles how the cast became attached to the project, overcoming budget hurdles, and how pink poster board and a tarantula can add some flavor to a long scene with no coverage. It's mentioned several times what an intrusive pain in the [behind] managers and agents can be. For instance, Richard Klein's agent insisted that the actor would never stoop to the level of a project like Jane White, especially for such a piddling amount of money, only to find out that his scenes had already been shot a couple of weeks earlier. Whoops. There are a bunch of the usual funny production tales, such as a guest at a hotel mistaking Dustin Diamond in drag for an employee, which almost got the production booted from the location. One of the best commentaries I've listened to in months.

Conclusion: Like most "love it or hate it" comedies, Jane White is Sick and Twisted is probably best suited to a rental rather than blindly shelling out twenty bucks. Television nuts and viewers with an interest in off-kilter, independent comedies are likely to get a kick out of the movie, and there are enough extras on its DVD release to keep 'em occupied for the better part of an evening. Recommended.

Jane White Is Sick and Twisted has just hit the video stores and rental palaces. A film that already has a cult following, it was not easily found in theaters. Those who did wander across it and stayed to watch realized that this is a truly subversive gem. It has, as they always say, a star-studded cast. Well, they were stars at one time or another and mostly on television in many cases, but they are all recognizable faces and names for avid viewers That's probably appropriate since this film ponders what a life completely shaped by television might be like. Who can resist seeing a great many familiar faces like Maureen McCormick and Wil Wheaton act themselves into a corner from which their careers may never recover. Just kidding but it is a hoot to watch though since none of the characters are anywhere near sane in Jane's world. ....

"Jane White is Sick and Twisted" isn't the easiest film to describe. I guess the best way I've so far been able to articulate is that it's like the theme song the the old MTV game show "Remote Control": Kenny was unlike the other kids/REMOTE CONTROL.TV mattered, nothing else did...REMOTE CONTROL/Girls said yes and he said NO!.Now he's got his own game show! Yeah, it's kind of like that, except Kenny is a teenage girl and she didn't get her own game show. Oh, and Wil Wheaton is in it. But the quizmaster of 72 Whooping Cough Lane manages to make a pretty interesting movie.

Jane White is played by the uber-cute Kim Little with hyper-energy and just the right sort of sparkle. She's able to convince the audience that she really does live in this TV dream world and it helps the film tremendously. Otherwise it would be little more than an obscure TV reference festival. She also makes you like Jane. The script by itself doesn't really make you want to like her, but Kim Little helps you like her.

Wil Wheaton plays her boyfriend Dick. Jane loves Dick because she thinks he's a serial killer. Dick loves Jane because they both have braces and she gives him money to save his car, Betsy. Wil obviously has a lot of fun playing the over-the-top character. This is some of the best work I've seen him do. Anyone, who with full knowledge of how silly he looks, wears the wig he wears in this film deserves my respect.

Jane and Dick's relationship is really what drives this picture. Both of them are quite insane, but for different reasons. Jane lives her life in TV reruns and Dick...well, Dick has a major problem with people going to the bathroom in the desert due to a tragic deer in the desert accident. You know, that old chestnut.
The rest of the cast is filled with cameos by various TV stars of yesteryear and improv superstars of today. You'll see Debra Wilson (MAD TV), Maureen McCormick (The Brady Bunch), Alley Mills and Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years), Eric Lutes and Andy Lauer (Caroline in the City), David Lander (Laverne and Shirley), Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood (Whose Line is it Anyway?) and Dustin "Screech" Diamond (Saved By the Bell). Each cameo is a little surprise when it happens and adds quite a bit to the TV references in the film.

The music to this film is tremendously important to its impact. I know I was singing the "Jane White Show" theme after the credits. The songs, although by different artists, sound stylistically similar and add to the stylized atmosphere of the film.

"Jane White is Sick and Twisted" is a hilarously fun retarded "Bonnie and Clyde" adventure ride through TV. It's a lot of fun and lends itself well to repeat viewing. I got quite a few references on the first go, I'm sure I'll find a lot more on the second. If you're a classic TV fan like me, then you'll want to get yourself a copy of the film.

The DVD contains several fun extras including inteviews with the cast and a commentary track with the director David Michael Latt, Kim Little and castmember Chris "MTV's Singled Out" Hardwick.

I wanted to see this movie for Danica McKellar ever since I saw a photo of her character. She has done a bunch of small stuff recently, but none of it's on DVD. Anyway, she only had about 2 minutes screen time (counting the bonus stuff), but it was worth it. "Winnie" she is not, here. Her character appears on a Jerry Springer show equivalent as a gum-smacking, stretch-pant wearing, sexually starved wife of a black man who thinks he's the son of God. Her husband argues back and then proceeds to french kiss Maureen McCormick's character, who is wearing a plastic bird on her head.
Alley Mills was a welcome addition as the alcoholic, smoking mother. Again, not "Norma Arnold" at all. She had a good sized role and was great.

The movie is definitely "out there". I'm not one for goofiness or silliness, but this made me laugh a bit, regardless.

Worth renting at least - and buying of you are a fan of Kim Little, Wil Weaton, or even Alley Mills. Lots of other TV people in supporting roles.

This movie has a number of little gems - the soundtrack, typecast-bending casting of Dustin Diamond, Danica McKellar, Maureen McCormick, Alley Mills, and Michelle Phillips, and great performances from Colin Mochrie and Wil Wheaton. It's fun to watch the references to television shows that pop up in titles, credits and dialogue.

So why is it so awful?

I mean really, really, unwatchable.

Part of it may be due to the fact that Kim Little (the eponymous Jane White) is not funny. At all. And the writing is painfully bad. It should be played, as Wil Wheaton and Colin Mochrie do, with a full knowledge that it is bad, but so pop-culture referential that it should not matter. But when most of the film concentrates on the main character and she is just so dreadful, well...

it's just awful.

If you're a fan of Wil Wheaton or Colin Mochrie, rent it. But don't buy it.

This movie made me laugh harder than anything has in a long time. Some of the lines are absolutely precious. "I will handcuff you to my heart, and stab you repeatedly with my love." It's relevant and irreverant and hilarious - everything a good indie comedy should be.

Considering how many people actively try to make what are commonly referred to as `cult movies, it's a wonder that so few of them actually wind up earning the moniker. "Jane White is Sick & Twisted," however, joins the handful that get the formula absolutely right...It's a furious, kinetic potpourri that sometimes feels as though John Waters has been unleashed on a `Kentucky Fried Movie' - style parody of `Nic at Nite.

A cult classic that has moments of brilliance...And, seriously, you might as well catch it now, because some day you'll probably be dressing up as Jane and reciting the dialogue along with the rest of the audience during the midnight screening in some run-down repertory theatre.

Any hack can hire a decent cast for a movie backed by a billion dollars (just ask Michael Bay), but only a true artist can combine an eclectic cast of actors with a fun and inventive script. Jane White is Sick & Twisted is such a beast.