Lonesome Jim (2005)
Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 89
Fresh: 53 | Rotten: 36
Though Lonesome Jim is leavened by sweet, understated humor, it's hard to root for such a morose, self-defeating protagonist.
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 15
Though Lonesome Jim is leavened by sweet, understated humor, it's hard to root for such a morose, self-defeating protagonist.
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Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 22,181
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Movie Info
A less than auspicious homecoming for an introspective artist sets the stage for this low-key comedy drama directed by Steve Buscemi. Jim (Casey Affleck) is a chronically glum aspiring novelist who, after a failed two-year sojourn in New York City, has returned home to his parents' home in Goshen, IN. Jim's folks, Don (Seymour Cassel) and Sally (Mary Kay Place), run a ladder factory, a family business Jim wants nothing to do with. His older brother, Tim (Kevin Corrigan), is also living at home,
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Cast
-
Casey Affleck
Jim -
Liv Tyler
Anika -
Mary Kay Place
Sally -
Seymour Cassel
Don -
Kevin Corrigan
Tim -
Rachel Strouse
Rachel -
Jack Rovello
Ben -
Sarah Strouse
Sarah -
Mark Boone Jr.
Evil -
Jake LaBotz
Philip (Welder) -
Jude Barger
Referee -
Pam Angell
Stacy (Prostitute) -
Michael Buscemi
Man (Driver) -
Don Strouse
Neighbor -
Rick Duplissie
Bar Patron -
Doug Liechty Caskey
Doug the Preacher -
-
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All Critics (94) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (53) | Rotten (40) | DVD (14)
Though this clash of picket-fenced, down-home values and big city oafishness was handled with a little more delicacy in 2005's superb 'Junebug', Buscemi's film has lots to say about this fruitful dynamic.
Top CriticManages to be bitter, dispiriting and utterly pointless all at once.
It all feels very slight.
Affleck plays this as a one-note turn, all dour. What a life-force like Anika would see in him is a mystery.
The problem is that a little of this minimalist kitchen-sink farce goes a very long way, and after a while Lonesome Jim starts to dry up.
A slight, but amusing and occasionally touching, dark comedy about depression and dysfunction that percolates with indie film hipness.
An unintentional parody of Sundance Hades circa 1996
"Lonesome Jim" is an earnest and modest 'little independent' movie that charms by way of its understated underachieving characters.
Minimalist, moody and morose, Lonesome Jim is a minor gem.
The world would be a better place if Steve Buscemi made more movies.
Steve Buscemi's third film as a director is a low key affair delivered with a wry sense of humour.
It's poignant, quietly life-affirming little story that doesn't need to shout. Lonesome Jim's good company.
Has great relevance to the lost adultolescent generation of today ... but it also flounders in its commonplace and too-familiar concept.
A depressing illustration of how even Middle America has ended up marginalized and rudderless in the wake of outsourcing, downsizing and globalization.
As the credits started to roll, I came to a pleasant and all-too-rare moviegoing realization: The smile that had crept across my face during the very first scene had never left.
If this film were hooked up to a heart monitor, it would register as a straight line. The most energetic and emotive blips occur when Boone, Jr. and Place are onscreen.
Casey Affleck is better than Lonesome Jim but Lonesome Jim is leagues better than Elizabethtown.
Its title character is such a lifeless loser, you wish Moonstruck's Cher was around to slap him hard and yell, 'Snap out of it!'
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Foreign Titles
- Lonesome Jim - Manche Leute sollten keine Eltern sein (DE)
He's got all sorts of things to deal with. His dad is a chronic sour puss, his mom is amazingly cheerful, and his older brother Tim (a divorced father of two whose business ventures have failed) also lives with their parents, who own a lumber and ladder factory where Jim's Uncle Stacy, aka Evil, uses it as a front for drug dealing.
After his brother unsuccessfully attempt suicide, Jim finds himself forced to take his brother's place, which means working for their parents and coaching a girl's basketball team that hasn't even scored one basket in the past 14 games. Things are looking even less hopeful, but that starts to change when Jim begins a tentative romance with a kind nurse and single mother named Anika who seems determined to help get him out of his funk.
It really doesn't surprise me that Buscemi would helm a slice of life indie about a depressed sad sack. I mean, he did it once before, and that movie (Trees Lounge) is one of my all-time favorites. This second foray into that territory, but doesn't have quite the same impact as the earlier one. For one, it's not as funny, or at least not as overtly funny. Well, aside from Mark Boone Junior as Evil, that is. This one is good, but it's less optimistic, though still just as realistic.
It definitely scores points for being wonderfully low-key and very nuanced, that's for sure. I liked it, but I think that the material just isn't as strong. It does have some really good performances, however.
All in all, a decent movie, but probably Buscemi's weakest as a director (so far). Even then, it's still not too bad, so give it a watch.