Jimmy and Judy (2006) Reviews

• What An Experience

  jzappa2006-09-17

  This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where I'd only first heard of it the very day I saw it. Seeing this dark, grungy low-budget independent movie late at night at a large-scale mainstream theater just seemed to drop in my lap. It was quite an experience. Only halfway through the film did I realize that this shot in my town. There's a scene where we see the profile of Rachael Bella in medium closeup as she drives. In the background, I saw what I had a strange feeling was familiar. Then, after she passes a few dead giveaways, I'm taken by surprise in finding that this film was shot in my city. Well, it was shot in the grimiest and seediest parts of my city, but it's my city. I then realized that that must be the reason why it's being shown at this mainstream theater rather than being confined to the Esquire or the Mariemont theaters. Jimmy and Judy is one of those relentless gritty and voyeuristic couple-on-the-run movies. It's reminiscent of Francois Ozón's Criminal Lovers, and even Baise Moi, which was scuzzy to the point of being pornographic. Jimmy and Judy is one of those movies that, in the end, is almost completely desensitizing and fixates your mind on a disturbing and morbid atmosphere that you'd rather it not be fixated on, and you end up being under its spell for the next day or two. That is not to say that Jimmy and Judy is not a well-made movie. It is. Otherwise, how could it put you under such a spell? Its effect is the surefire sign that it's done its job. It's about everything intriguing to that is to most people the underside of your mind. It's all about the effect of alienation, vindication most people only think of under the influence of serious bouts of anger, and other things that, in a movie, are not for everyone. Yes, there are many movies that tackle subject matter like this, but not to such a raw and overwhelming extent. William Sadler's character alone is one of the scariest and most realistic people I think I've ever seen in a movie. Jimmy and Judy is not quite at the status where it can be called a great movie, but it has a very clear message and a very precise and innovative way of conveying it. It-does-not-pull- any-punches.

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• Lost in the whirlwind…

  Anonymous_Maxine2008-06-01

  There is a very brief period of many peoples' young lives, usually sometime in junior high school or high school, when it is cool to be a loser, an outcast. The girls like the guys that ditch school and get in trouble with the police and have disastrous relationships with their parents. That period of life does not, however, extend beyond high school, which might be why 21-year-old Jimmy (played by a plump, 30-year-old Eddie Furlong) manages to get a high school girl to fall in love with him. I love the irony here, by the way. Judy is clearly a smart and successful student who one day is attacked by a group of girls, the bad kids (by the way, do high school girls really do this? Definitely not when I was in school…), which Jimmy catches on tape because he films everything. Later he exacts vicious revenge on two of the people involved in the attack and shows it to Judy, who is horrified but ultimately touched that he would look out for her in such a way. Soon afterwards she falls intensely in love with Jimmy, who is not a far cry removed from the same kinds of jerks that attacked her in the first place. This is going to be a film that most people will either love or hate, although I happen to have strongly disliked it, but I didn't hate it. It's an extremely simply made film, shot almost entirely from the perspective of a home video camera and cut for the most part to run like an unedited MiniDV tape. There won't be any concern about motion sickness, but it's an intensely realistic portrayal of the lives of a couple of genuinely screwed up kids. In short, for a good majority of the movie it is genuinely unpleasant to watch, as it is meant to be. Personally, I knew a lot of people like Jimmy (minus the killing) in high school because I hung out with the wrong people for a couple years. These are the guys that never go home because they hate their parents and are always drunk or on drugs. I don't know why people hang out with people like that, they are highly unpleasant to be around, particularly the nutty ones like the crackhead that Jimmy and Judy shack up with for a couple hours midway through the movie. I like movies that bring back fun memories from high school. Jimmy and Judy brings back memories, but all the wrong ones. I bought the movie, by the way, because I was curious to see what Eddie Furlong was up to these days. He was phenomenal in Terminator 2 but his career never really seemed to go very far after that, except for his outstanding role in the spectacular American History X. I don't know much about his personal life, but he is a little TOO good at playing a dirtbag. It's also interesting that he looks so handsome on the cover box, because little Eddie has become quite the meatball. Anyway, his Jimmy in this movie is an unhinged lunatic with absolutely no redeeming values whatsoever, while Judy is pretty and smart. Whether you like the movie or not, believing her interest in him is no small feat. They are polar opposites and it's nearly impossible to understand what she sees in him, but their chemistry works well enough so I guess it doesn't matter. We do, however, see in great detail why Jimmy is so twisted (we are, after all, products of our environment, and his parents' relationship is one of the sickest marriages I've ever seen, in a movie or otherwise), but we learn nothing about Judy's past, including why she was being bullied at school. But the worst part of all, by far, is this ridiculous commune at the end of the film. It is a mixture of a twisted cult group and what I imagine Woodstock must have looked like. You see, there is some insane fanatic known as Uncle Rodney who has started this as a place for trashy people to go live. I think his exact words were "garbage people," meaning they are the garbage of society. Nice. I can see the appeal already. This Rodney is played by William Sadler, who must never have had a more pointless role. The only purpose he serves here is to make this already trashy movie look like preachy crap. You can feel yourself being punched in the face with the transparent "social commentary" when he gives his goofy, fiery speech near the end of the movie. You see, apparently he believes that by providing this retreat for the trash of society, they'll become stronger with each new addition, while the "outside world" gets weaker with every one, until they become so strong that they can rain garbage on the world that threw them away and then "fornicate in their ashes." Are you hearing this? WOW. I would hate to be the one to burst his balloon, but I have a feeling that the subtraction of a lot of criminals and junkies and drunks is not exactly going to make society weaker… Ultimately, the movie starts off as a serious downer and goes downhill from there. I was thoroughly depressed by the time it was over and couldn't even take my afternoon nap. I hate that. Note: Another IMDb user called this the best film at the San Fran Indie Fest. Boy am I glad I missed that one. And by the way, some lunatic from the San Francisco Chronicle has claimed that this is the movie that Natural Born Killers wanted to be, and at 1/20th of the cost. Yeah, right. They spent $500,000 on this? Scary. I would say that not more than about $1,200 made it onto the screen….

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• Best Film in San Fran IndieFest

  kyliehouston752006-02-16

  Hands down this was the best film at the festival. Realistic, haunting, and down right disturbing, I couldn't stop thinking about this film for days - in a good way. The chemistry between the two leads, (Edward Furlong and Rachael Bella) is amazing. I hear they are now a real life couple. My friend and I saw it Sunday night at the Women's building and we were nothing short of amazed. Got to meet the directors and they were very open to questions and explained some of the challenges they faced while making the film. This film will be known for quite some time. It really will make you think.

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• Wow... I get to be first on an IMDb comment? Sweet! Annnnyway...

  ptiming2006-02-05

  I really enjoyed this film. I don't think I'll be giving away any spoilers here. First off, this film is shot entirely from a first person perspective, ala Blair Witch, but seriously, do NOT let that scare you away. The titular characters are played by Edward Furlong and Rachael Bella (both of whom attended the premiere in SF tonight). You'll remember Eddie Furlong as the whiny little saves-the-future brat from Terminator II, though you'd do much better to remember his performances in American History X and Pecker, as he's long since shrugged off the child-actor label in these latter parts. Rachael Bella you may recall as the "crazy chick" who witnesses the bizarre death of her teenage friend in the beginning of The Ring (boy, I really hope I didn't give anything away there). The story unfolds exclusively from the perspective of Jimmy's video camera. He's a video junkie (not unlike the neighbor character in American Beauty) and feels the need to "document" every important event in his life on tape (including certain aspects of his parents' relationship, and there's no way in hell I'm giving up *that* spoiler!). Jimmy's been in love with Judy all of his life, their parents having apparently been friends for quite some time, but that love has been unrequited until now. He's a social misfit and outcast in all aspects of his life. He finally approaches Judy to show her how he's taken revenge on those that have wronged her in school (herself also being a social outcast, apparently) causing her to instantly fall in love with him. The remainder of the film is a high tension tale of the love between the two star-crossed lovers and the misadventures they become entangled in as they explore a life of crime and independence. No, this is not a retelling of such "on the lamb" films as Natural Born Killers, True Romance, or The Devil's Rejects. They are not crazed teens on a killing spree, out to kill everyone who gets in their way. They do come across in many respects as honest social outcasts who simply end up in the situations they end up in out of circumstance and their purest desire to remain together and not be torn apart. You can, however, feel the influence of the aforementioned films as the story progresses. I don't want to go into too much detail so as not to be blamed for submitting any spoilers. Suffice to say, the style in which the film is shot is actually somewhat secondary to the story. It does offer a unique perspective, though, on the relationship that is formed by the young couple and how they grow to bond so strongly. This really is a true perspective, incidentally. Not until the very end of the film (mild spoiler here, but not really) are you treated at all to a third person perspective of the action. According to the Q&A following the premiere, the film was shot with practically no budget and within 15 days in the Kentucky countryside. The casting of Eddie Furlong was a very very fortunate accident when one of the future crewmembers of the production briefly met him at a party and suggested to the writing/directing team that they send him a copy of the script which he fell in love with. Rachael Bella is also very well cast and is beautiful (to say the least) which will appeal to those seeking the voyeuristic nudity and sex which I'm sure will likely be at the heart of some other reviews. Honestly, there really isn't anything explicit here. Jimmy is a first or second year college student suspended from school due to an incident involving his videotaping craze (at least partly to blame for his severe emotional scarring) and Judy is a high school junior or senior and their relationship is typical of that of late teenage/early twenties relationships when it comes to the sexual element (at least from my own personal perspective), so I'm sure you can figure out roughly what to expect. The film is a love story... with complications. Honestly, what good story ever came out of an uncomplicated love affair? It's the honest portrayals and realistic style in which the movie is filmed that is it's true driving force. I hesitate to say phrases like "edge of my seat", but it is quite definitely apropos for much of this film. I think I'd prefer to just come out and say that this flick grabbed me by the balls and at no time did it really let go. It's a very fast-moving story once things really get to happening and I soon found myself totally engrossed. I'm running out of words here, sadly, and I doubt I'm doing the film quite the justice it is deserved. I suppose my rush to try and provide this very first review of the movie (on IMDb at any rate). All I really do have to say, in the end, is that I truly hope that this film gets picked up for distribution (I believe it was mentioned that this has already happened, or is definitely in the works) and if you get any chance to see it, I highly recommend that you do. Hence my "10" here on IMDb... and my "6" on the festival ballot (which only went to "5" = Brilliant!, see this flick. pt...

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• What the hell were the film makers thinking?

  xtremekornfreak2006-09-15

  I've seen a lot of bad movies lately, but HOLY HELL!!! When I first heard about Jimmy and Judy, I was mildly interested. Two young (rolls eyes) lover go on a violence and destruction rampage. Kinda a new NBK or Bonnie and Clide. Well it was far from any of those classics. J & J is just persistent boredom. Long shots of NOTHING!! Annoying ?acting? by furlong, random nudity, horrible tattoos. OH GOD!! the TATTOOS!!! Okay, heres a game you can play while watching this movie. Each time you see a fake tattoo (looks like they went to staples, bought a 12 pack of sharpies and colored in some tribal crap. Awful.) take a drink. Aside from the tattoos and the acting, the entire thing being done in a hand cam by the characters gets old FAST. It felt constantly forced and not natural at all. SPOILER: One shot in particular that I laughed at was towards the end after Jimmy gets the crap kicked out of him by the commune people. Let me set the stage: the guy just had a beating to within an inch of his life; he comes to at night and grabs his CAMERA turns it on and carries it with him as he stumble around to get to his van and back to the house to kill people. Now, maybe I'm crazy, BUT... If I was just stomped by about a half dozen large hillbillies, when I came too I really don't think my first act would be to reach over and turn on my flippin handy-cam. Spoilers over. Final thoughts: Skip Jimmy and Judy unless you want to laugh at a horrible story, boring and pointless directing, and Ed Furlong looking like a fool.

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