Customer Reviews

Lonesome Jim

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

 

 

This is a quirky, odd little independent film that I saw recently at a local theatre that shows, well, quirky, odd, little independent movies. It has a few laugh-out loud moments, and an overall sweet feel to it. The subtle message of the film is that you might just be able to change your life -- albeit, a little at a time.
Jim and his family are the very definition of dysfunctional. He returns home from living in New York after quitting his job as a dog-walker. That's right -- dog WALKER. His mother, marvelously played by Mary Kay Place, is emotionally needy and all-but-clueless -- or, at least you think so in the beginning. Jim assessment of his parents is overwhelmingly negative, though he usually expresses this in a very passive fashion. Thing is, he is cognizant enough to realize that he, himself, is every bit as stuck in a rut. When he meets Liv Tyler in a local bar, his view of things begins to change, but it is hardly overnight. No fireworks, wine or roses here. Just the subtle realization that there might be a different way to look at one's life.
Far from being maudlin, the film acknowledges the character's shortcomings unsparingly, and yet does so in a way that is both comical and very nearly sympathetic. You have to stay with this movie a bit to appreciate its humor and sublety, but you'll most likely be pleasantly surprised if you do.

This is a good, indie film directed by a veteran of the industry, Steve Buscemi. It's the kind of movie he's been acting in his whole career.

There's nothing spectacular or original story. It's been told a hundred times in indie films, classic literature, and every novel by Larry McMurtry or JD Salinger.

Casey Affleck plays Jim, a man in his late twenties who hasn't made much of his life because he was afraid of failure. He's lost his way and broke so he comes home to a small town to live his parents and his older brother, who might be even more pathetic. While he's there his brother gets in an accident and Jim is forced to take over his duties. Along the way he meets Liv Tyler's character, a pretty, small town girl with a ten year old son. It's through Jim's actions with her, his family, and a children's basketball team that he eventually finds the will to take some risks in life.

The story is light on plot, but it's the mood that makes it interesting. Any one who's ever enjoyed "Catcher in the Rye" or similar stories or movies will probably enjoy this film, which has a lot of charm and several laugh out loud moments.

'Lonesome Jim' presents some problems. Faced with loneliness and depression, we all have our moments of anguish and forlorness. Casey Affleck plays the leading role with life's alienation written all over his face. He has lost the paper chase out in the world and must--like many young adults nowadays--come home and live with the family until his luck changes. The mother is supportive, but the father intimidates him from just feeding off their bounty, so he works at the family business and takes the menial jobs at the factory. He tries to go to all the familiar watering holes, an exercise that only seems to make his inner hole bigger, until he meets a cheerful and generous nurse. He also volunteers for a young girls basketball team, which he seems to go through the motions.

He is also an aspiring writer, and he wears the despair of his greatest heroes on his sleeve, including Hemingway, whom he notes shot himself. On one cheerful encounter with his mother (played wonderfully by Mary Kay Place) she asks Jim what they've done to raise two miserable boys: "Be honest...You're a smart and sensitive man, you should have some idea." He replies, "Some people shouldn't have kids," a response that injures even her seemingly unflappable resource of cheerfulness. His cousin Stacie works at the factory and brings his monetary resources to Jim who naively gets blackmailed by him from snitching when he uses the factory to mail drugs, and Jim's mother gets busted.

Sometimes loneliness and depression are a disease. The reason I recommend watching 'Lonesome Jim' is because it goes through it and glides on top of it at the same time. His loneliness is as tangible as watching the futile anguish of Johnny Depp in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape?' The film is entertaining and cathartic, but it may have the best feature of confronting a part of all of us that is screaming to make life a better domain.

Stay with me here. It's Thanksgiving afternoon. Momma Affleck has just brought out the turkey. Ben is sitting to the right of ole Papa Affleck and they're talking 'Good Will Hunting' Oscar winnings, Jennifer Garner, and all-things Matt Damon. Down at the end of the table sits one Casey Affleck at the kid's table, eyes tearing up and burning with jealous rage. For years, this has been the case for the Affleck family, Casey at the kid's table while Ben talks about his most recent big-screen successes. Once, Casey was asked about his movie career, to which he replied, "Well, I made this film called Gerry that was pretty...." only to find his father interrupting him at this point as he asked Ben, "So what about this new film you and Morgan Freeman are making?"

Then, like a gift from the movie gods, came Lonesome Jim, a bizarre, loveable dark comedy in which our boy Casey Affleck could finally sink his ready teeth.

Lonesome Jim is a poor man's comedy, the type of film which can really only be appreciated by the Casey Affleck's of the universe, to which I readily admit I am one. In this world, underdog comedy is not only appreciated, but joyously celebrated. Jim, played by Casey, is a guy not unlike us. He has tried his hand at life, failed miserably at it, and returns in bitter defeat to his parent's basement. Here, he finds a guilt-tripping father who wants to run his life and a mother who is all-too happy to cut Jim's meet for him or let him borrow the family van. When it comes to women, Jim misses all the signals and often is left out thinking with over-analytical questions like, "Was she coming onto me?" as the girl, in the meantime, leaves it disgust when her advances are not reciprocated.

This is the world of Lonesome Jim. If you're reading this, this is the world of you. Since I'm writing it, I already know it's the world of me. If you are at peace with that, you will likely love this film, as you will no-doubt see elements of your own fatigued attempts at success and nonchalant approach to life embodied in the role of Lonesome Jim.

So for that, I thank you Mr. Casey Affleck. You sit at the kiddies' table no more, my friend.

"Lonesome Jim" is directed by Steve Buscemi (it's his third film, I haven't seen the other two) and in this film he proves that he's not just one of the finest actors alive but he's also a good director. Lonesome Jim is (and Buscemi even admitted it) pretty short on plot, summing it up in a few words would be simple. But it's slightly more complex than that and is pretty damn funny and has a lot of heart. Remember the film "Five Easy Pieces." I'm not putting this film in the same category, but both movies are simple yet complex. Casey Affleck has been around about as long as his brother Ben, but rarely do you see him in lead roles. He's not leading man material, due to his skinny frame and wimpy voice. This role is perfect for him, because Jim is a pretty weak, small, and wimpy guy. Jim is a writer, who failed to make it in New York and is forced to move back in with his parents. His mother Sally (Mary Kay Place) is that typical movie mom. Overbearing, really sweet, and rather clueless. His father, Don (Seymour Cassel) is the typical movie dad. Doesn't really care. Jim also has a brother Tim (Kevin Corrigan, playing the same part he played in Buffalo 66 and TV's Grounded for Life. There's not a scene in this film where he doesn't look stoned) and figuring out who's a bigger failure is actually pretty difficult. At one point, Jim marvels to Tim
"I'm a f**k up. But you're a tragedy." Tim still lives with Sally and Don, has two daughters, coaches a girls basketball team that always loses, and works for a dollar over minimum wage. After Jim's speech, Tim crashes his car into a tree. The love story of Lonesome Jim is between Tim and Anika (Liv Tyler, who looks gorgeous), a nurse and mother of one. After meeting in a bar, we're led to one of the funniest (if not rather predictable) sex scenes I've seen in a while. For Liv Tyler fantatics, a quick side-note. There is no nudity. There's also the sub-plot about Evil (Mark Boone Junior), a man who works in Sally's factory dappling in drugs which eventually gets Sally arrested. The movie isn't hysterically funny, but one of those toned-down subtle comedies.
It's not one of the best movies of the year, but it's definitely worth checking out. My biggest complaint is the cinematography. Out of the three films I've seen from IFC films (the other two being Sorry, Haters and Manderlay). It's not unbearable, but I don't know when it became "independent film law" to shoot with this lens.

GRADE: A-

This is a dark comedy that is worth watching. The script is good and it will make you laugh at the worst possible moment.

The ending could have been a little bit better and that's why I gave it the 3 stars.

I recommend it.

Not for the depressed, this downbeat comedy is a delight throughout. Steve Buscemi really gets these characters, living out the ennui of suburbia, the desperation quiet but barely contained. Liv Tyler is perfect as the optimistic single mom. Casey Affleck does a great job. The soundtrack is ideal. This is a real sleeper, but well worth watching.

While this non-comedy is inaccurately advertised on its DVD case as a comedy -- misleading one to think it's a somewhat light chick-flick -- the portrayal of the lazy, self-absorbed no-ambition loser depicted by Casey Affleck is right on. Fortunately, the girl-too-good-to-be-true tumbled to his absolute worthlessness after a bit, and made the right choice -- and let's just hope she followed through with her decision, "after" the end of the story.

The acting was all good, the tale was somewhat interesting (though depressing), and a couple of narrative details were quite implausible. Still, everyone in time encounters total losers like Jim, and definitely emerges wiser from the experience.

Sadly, she isn't in enough scenes (in my opinion.) The lady underplays gently, sweetly, with that bemused smile that has you falling in love with her. The kid who plays her son does a nice enough job as well.

And the male lead? The woe-is-me character? Frankly, who hasn't felt this way at one time or another--still, there were times I almost felt like reaching out and b--ch-slapping this crybaby in order to get him to stop whining so much; and, oh yeah, you also felt like shoving a comb in his face and tossing some clean clothes his way. Not to mention a razor.

What's up with the uncombed hair, raggedy clothes look? What's up with the peach-fuzz look? I thought all that fake posing went out with the Miami Vice TV series years ago.

Whatever that facade/look/appearance is supposed to be--it comes across as nothing more than BOGUS and rather stupid--and we should put a moratorium on it for the next two decades, at least.
How about it, filmmakers?

SPOILER AHEAD:

Two or three things that were rather far-fetched: the Liv Tyler character jumping in the sack so quickly with this loser. There is no way he could have picked up a woman like this and jumped her bones ten minutes after meeting her. No way in hell.

Male lead's brother rams car into a tree (after male lead calls him a far bigger loser than he is).
Man, this sort of stuff is way too convenient--and I'm talking to the writer now.

Last one: the male lead's mother being thrown in jail for pushing dope (out of her factory). Seemed like a big stretch to me.

Spoiler--free zone.

I had a friend who could only watch this flick to about the half-way point. Just could not get into it.
In my case, as stated at the top: Liv Tyler not only makes it worthwhile, but also makes me want to see what else she has been in.

As bland and flat as the landscape in which it is set, this is indeed a strange directing vehicle for Steve Buscemi who has made a career out of acting in hard-edged gritty films. Lonesome Jim is a cheaply made, boring and lackluster film about a twenty-seven year old would be mopey writer who returns to his Indiana family after bottoming out in Manhattan.

The whole film is dispiriting, pointless and morose as we watch Jim (Casey Affleck) advise his divorced older brother (Kevin Corrigan) to kill himself, be dismissive and occasionally cruel to both his mother (Mary Kay Place) - and even steal from her purse - and flirt with the beautiful nurse (Liv Tyler) he supposedly wants to date.

Obviously Jim is terribly depressed - he even keeps pictures of suicidal writers on his bedroom wall - but apart from the fact that he ran out of money in New York, the film offers few clues to the source of Jim's malaise, or that of his entire sad-sack family. Consequently, the story is directionless and rudderless and so indebted to deadpan, droopy, mopey blandness that the subject and the form become one, and end up leaving the viewer numb and indifferent.

The main problem with Lonesome Jim is that the characters are just not that interesting. The film also tries for a kind of pokerfaced humor, which doesn't really work as it attempts to make light of Jim's situation. He's got no wit, no energy, no creative drive, and no spark of life. He's a big, self-indulgent idiot and the film is so closely allied to his dulled sensibilities that it's agonizing, even at its brief running time.

In all fairness, Lonesome Jim does paint a realistic portrait of working-class, mid-western suburbia and the film does have some interesting things to say about following your dreams, with only hard work and a life plan ensuring success. Most of these people are stuck in some kind of rudderless life - choices are limited and their worldview is often narrow.

Affleck, a sly comic and easily the best actor in his family, is suitably solitary and lifeless, maybe a bit too lifeless and Tyler is miscast as a small-town beauty. Fortunately Mary Kay Place rises above it all and provides is with a great portrait of a doting and somewhat neurotic mid-western mom.

Lonesome Jim is indeed a lonely road of a film, it too often dawdles and never accelerates and apart from a thread where one character gets arrested for drug smuggling, the film doesn't seem to have much drama. Mr. Affleck and Buscemi have been weighed down with the difficult task of making grumpiness and petulance seem interesting. But neither of them really succeeds; consequently this film is almost dead on arrival. Mike Leonard September 06.