On DVD: Jimmy and Judy

 

 

Written and Directed By: Randall K. Rubin and Jon Schroder

Starring: Edward Furlong, Rachael Bella, James Eckhouse, Gay Storm, William Sadler, Chaney Kley

 

Jimmy and Judy has been compared to Natural Born Killers and The Blair Witch Project. Although there are some obvious similarities, it would be misleading to say this film is like either. Jimmy and Judy is more like the story of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate or Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow – two people on a joyride to inevitable destruction.

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The Movie

 

From the very beginning, we meet the thoroughly screwed-up and video-obsessed Jimmy Wright. Without seeing him yet, we watch as he tried to use his camera to shock and manipulate others – first by driving his therapist to violence, then by making his parents’ party a little more interesting. Judy is the lonely, picked-on teenager who sees his destructive acts and romantic and heroic, especially when it involves people she doesn’t like.

 

Very soon, these two love birds are running from the law, and we aren’t the least bit surprised. The entire film, except for some footage as the end credits roll, are from the POV of brilliant, misunderstood Jimmy’s almost indestructible camera. Jimmy videotapes everything he can; every stupid crime, every insane philosophic diatribe and, as often as possible, Judy’s breasts. Throughout the film, we see these dumb kids shoplifting and killing the occasional police officer and getting way over their head with drug dealers and criminals, and we are never shocked by any of it.

 

In a strange way, this is the brilliance of the film. If you handed me this film, sans credits, and told me this was the actually footage from to youths on a killing spree and one of them looks a little like that kid from the Terminator movie, I might have believed you. Furlong and Bella do a great job here. We see them at their most manic, assuming this is gleaned from several hours of his fictional footage. They are obviously outrageous at times, but in a completely believable way, unlike the surreal Natural Born Killers. It also doesn’t’ go to the other extreme, where we are supposed to feel sorry for a poor Jimmy and Judy who suffered horrible abuses and had no recourse but to act the way they did. We don’t feel sorry for them at all. Sometimes, though, we watch the film and wish we were in the van with them. Just sometimes.  Although there is no complete redemption for these two, we do see a good side in them both. In his way, he really loves her and, in her way, she takes care of him as they drive down the road paced with good intentions in a stolen junkie’s van.

 

Jimmy says he has to film the most important things in his life. We see much violence being filmed, but a lot of is, either directly or indirectly, because of his girlfriend. The film starts out being about Jimmy and what makes him tick. In the end, maybe it’s just a film about Judy.

 

Edward Furlong and Rachael Bella (who, soon after the movie, became Mrs. Furlong) are on the screen 95% of the time, but there are some other good performances to look forward to. James Eckhouse (the dad from 90210) and Gay Storm play the Jimmy’s parents. You have to have some great acting skills to be able to go through one of the weirdest sex scenes I’ve scene in while convincingly going through such mundane dialogue. You will never look at your parent’s closed bedroom door the same way again. William Sadler, one of my favorite actors, gives a great and all too brief performance as commune guru-slash-druglord Uncle Rodney. Chaney Kley is very convincing as coked-up pusher Dinko and I think showed signs of great talent. . Sadly, Kley passed away in July 2007 and this was one of his last films.

 

8/10

 

The Video and Audio

 

The video and audio is exceptionally crisp and clear for a film shot on a handheld video camera. I never had any trouble hearing the dialogue. Everything was far better than you would usually get from a home camera under these circumstances but not so much that the film has an overproduced quality that takes you out of the experience of watching someone’s actual home tapes. Unlike Blair Witch, the shots are all clear and focused and very little shaking. Ben Kufrin (who often held the camera when we thought Furlong was using it) does a great job with the equipment he had.

 

7/10

 

The Packaging and Bonus Features

 

The packaging is very attractive, and doesn’t give away too much of the film. The commentary by writer/directors Rubin/Schroder and cinematographer Ben Kufrin will be interesting to any budding filmmaker. Discussions range from casting to camera use to getting locations to the story of the dead raccoon that is seen at the very beginning of the film.

 

6/10

 

The film is often gritty and violent, but it isn’t nonstop action. If showing a POV film about spree killers is a gimmick, it’s a well-executed one. This film may not be for everyone, but I recommend you give this one a chance.

  

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

The Review

The Movie 0/10

The Video 0/10

The Audio 0/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 0/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7.5/10

 

-Fred Grimm