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Movies / Upcoming / Lonesome Jim
Lonesome Jim

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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.

Runtime: 87 mins

Genre: Comedies

US Box Office: $0

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

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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Its mopey pace and the forced 'quirkiness' of its characters will have you reaching for the Ambien in no time.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
03/31/06
E! Online
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
05/06/06
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
04/11/08
Time Out

Place [has] played overly chirpy, middle-class mothers/wives before, but the mom here is slowly revealed, through the subtlest changes of expression, to be much more than a caricature.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
03/31/06
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

"Lonesome Jim" is worth checking out, if nothing else for the performances and Buscemi's idiosyncratic sense of irony.

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
05/26/06
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

A slight, but amusing and occasionally touching, dark comedy about depression and dysfunction that percolates with indie film hipness.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
04/20/06
Bob Longino
Bob Longino
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: NPR.org | comment Comment
10/18/08
Bob Mondello
Bob Mondello
NPR.org

Jim's characters may grow on you after a slow setup and, like a hot plate of grits, may stick with you.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
04/07/06
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
10/18/08
Cath Clarke
Cath Clarke
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

In the end, Lonesome Jim is an enormously hopeful and, I think, realistic film.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
04/13/06
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Has great relevance to the lost adultolescent generation of today ... but it also flounders in its commonplace and too-familiar concept.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
09/17/07
Christopher Campbell
Christopher Campbell
Cinematical

Screenwriter James C. Strouse (in whose hometown the film was shot) provides so few clues to the source of Jim’s malaise, or that of his entire sad-sack family, that the movie remains rudderless and not the least bit believable.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
03/30/06
Chuck Wilson
Chuck Wilson
L.A. Weekly

"Lonesome Jim" is an earnest and modest 'little independent' movie that charms by way of its understated underachieving characters.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/20/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

It is packed with delightfully silly vignettes that had me squirming in my seat with laughter.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
04/13/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Feels like a first film, but "Jim" is Buscemi's third feature and because it marks a technical decline from his earlier efforts, I can't help but greet it with disappointment.

Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | comment Comment
03/31/06
Dan Fienberg
Dan Fienberg
Zap2it.com

Refreshingly, there’s more lethargy than awakening here...

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun
Time Out

Casey Affleck is Jim, maybe the least starring role ever to center a movie. In this wet doughnut, he is the wide hole.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
04/14/06
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

If you were to saddle Garden State with a far less likeable lead and set it in Indiana, you might end up with this small gem

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
04/20/05
David Thomas
David Thomas
Filmcritic.com

There's a slightness to the mildly eccentric material here that leaves the whole enterprise in danger of fluttering away.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/02/05
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A simple, no frills story-line told with total deadpan humor that fits in perfectly with the downward spiral of Jim's life.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
04/02/05
Don R. Lewis
Don R. Lewis
Film Threat
 
 
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