Steve Buscemi paints an honest picture of working class suburbia, where living rooms are covered with shag carpets and Applebees is the best restaurant in town.
Lonesome Jim (2006)
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Reviews Counted:87
Fresh:51
Rotten:36
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Though Lonesome Jim is leavened by sweet, understated humor, it's hard to root for such a morose, self-defeating protagonist.
Theatrical Release:Mar 24, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: With LONESOME JIM, director Steve Buscemi delivers another low-budget gem about small-town American life. Boasting a fresh script courtesy of James C. Strouse, the film begins when 27-year-old Jim... With LONESOME JIM, director Steve Buscemi delivers another low-budget gem about small-town American life. Boasting a fresh script courtesy of James C. Strouse, the film begins when 27-year-old Jim (Casey Affleck) returns to his small Indiana town after having failed to make a dent as a writer in New York City. Depressed beyond comprehension, Jim must contend with his actively suicidal brother (Kevin Corrigan), insane mother (Mary Kay Place), and dangerously clueless uncle (Mark Boone Junior). Along the way, he meets a too-good-to-be-true nurse, Anika (Liv Tyler), and begins coaching his niece's hapless basketball squad. As time passes, the fog threatens to hang around forever, making Jim wonder if returning home might have been the worst mistake of all. Hilarious in its honesty, tender in its performances, and compassionate in its direction, LONESOME JIM is an example of superior independent filmmaking. Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler deliver especially wonderful performances, giving three-dimensional depth to characters that could potentially have come off as one-note clichés. One can only hope that audiences will see through the low-budget production values and embrace the film's universal themes. [More]
Starring: Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, Mary Kay Place, Seymour Cassel
Starring: Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, Mary Kay Place, Seymour Cassel, Kevin Corrigan, Mark Boone
Director: Steve Buscemi
Director: Steve Buscemi
Screenwriter: James C. Strouse
Producer: Celine Rattray, Jake Abraham
Studio: IFC Films
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Reviews for Lonesome Jim
... the story of Percyesque ex-suicide, a parable about how embracing childish things can be part of growing up.
A slight, but amusing and occasionally touching, dark comedy about depression and dysfunction that percolates with indie film hipness.
An interesting but unsuccessful study, although viewers should be cautioned about falling victim to its malaise.
Though Affleck does his best to humanize his one-note character, he's stuck in a script by first-time screenwriter James Strouse that works in broad strokes and trite moments.
Steve Buscemi's third film as a director is a low key affair delivered with a wry sense of humour.
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.
Anchored by dry humor and purposefully understated performances, Lonesome Jim steadily builds in charm as it progresses.
It keeps us rooting for him even as we can't stop shaking our heads and chuckling at what an absolute pill he is.
[Strouse] has written a forlorn and poetic story, and Buscemi has made it into a movie about taking a deep breath and deciding to stop being a mope.
Lonesome Jim -- despite its excellent cast, controlled direction and moody, well-judged atmospherics -- tends to alienate us, just as Affleck's Jim does.
Has great relevance to the lost adultolescent generation of today ... but it also flounders in its commonplace and too-familiar concept.
"Lonesome Jim" is an earnest and modest 'little independent' movie that charms by way of its understated underachieving characters.
The supposed randomness takes on an artificial, movie quality -- precisely the thing that Cassavetes worked so hard to avoid.
As in 'Elizabethtown' and 'Jersey Girl,' the hero doesn't have to do anything but exist to attract the devoted attentions of a beautiful woman, a sexist fantasy of entitlement as insidious (if unacknowledged) as that found in an old Rat Pack movie.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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