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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 rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

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

Click to read the article

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

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Entertainment Insiders | comment Comment
04/01/06
Jonathan W. Hickman
Jonathan W. Hickman
Entertainment Insiders
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

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

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

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

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

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

This flick is pure Schadenfreude

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
03/24/06
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

An unintentional parody of Sundance Hades circa 1996

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/30/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

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!'

Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | comment Comment
06/02/06
Jack Garner
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

The real problem is its absolute absence of energy.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
03/24/06
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

Another product of the woefully inadequate InDigEnt company, who have almost never turned out an agreeable movie, Lonesome Jim feels as if it's from an earlier time and not in a good way.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
03/01/06
Jason Clark
Jason Clark
Slant Magazine

The supposed randomness takes on an artificial, movie quality -- precisely the thing that Cassavetes worked so hard to avoid.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
03/31/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

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.

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
05/03/06
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

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.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
03/23/06
Keith Phipps
Keith Phipps
AV Club

One of those indie excursions to Loserville that lasts an hour and a half but feels longer than Roots.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
03/24/06
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post

(Casey) Affleck is adequate as the lead, although I kept wondering how much lower Buscemi could take Jim.

Full Review Source: San Antonio Express-News | comment Comment
04/17/06
Larry Ratliff
Larry Ratliff
San Antonio Express-News
 
 
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