By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Trevor White
Starring: James Woods | Mary-Louise Parker | Spencer Lofranco | Taissa Farmiga | Ving Rhames
Country: united_states
Year: 2014
Running time: 109
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1673734/combined
Kyle says: “‘All I want is a normal life.’ The moment this line is delivered by James (Spencer Lofranco) in the running time of JAMESY BOY is startling, first because every action and character preceding has made sure this is an impossibility, and second because the character most deprived of normalcy is James’s mother, played by Mary-Louise Parker. The film’s chronology is jumbled about almost constantly, emphasizing the troubled adolescence, evolving delinquency, and lengthy incarceration of James, who falls in with gang members, petty thieves and drug dealers, all of whom we have seen in countless films and TV shows of varying quality. There are no surprises here.
“This is a by-the-numbers bad boy in-and-out-of-jail story, enlivened occasionally by drug culture violence and momentarily transfigured by the title character’s search for redemption. That James keeps a diary in which he records his thoughts and feelings — which is dipped into by both his mother and a girlfriend of questionable character — makes it impossible for the audience to miss the fact that he is sensitive beneath the criminal exterior. Thus we are not surprised when the hardened lifer Conrad, played by Ving Rhames, awakens his soulfulness by sharing a love for books. I did not believe a moment of it, especially when James makes a smart speech to the Parole Board and gets out of jail, taking the first step toward a new life.
“This is not only a bad movie, but also a dispiriting one. The great Mary-Louise Parker, a bona fide national treasure, is totally wasted, and much of the time looks like she doesn’t know what she is doing, which she manages to figure out quite handily in such idiocy as RED (2010) and RED 2 (2013). Ving Rhames manages one good scene, played with his hand tightly around Spencer Lofranco’s throat, which I think we are to take as an example of ‘tough love.’ James Woods used to display a ferocious intelligence that made him a compelling actor, but he is embarrassingly ineffective in this, at moments appearing as if he too needs help from a director. It is difficult to judge whether Spencer Lofranco has anything going for him other than good looks, for which a better film than this one will be necessary. At the end, when we read that James has ‘studied writing and poetry at Borough of Manhattan Community College…’ there is a howler of a spelling error: he ‘hopes to continue his higher education.’
“But lurking amid the cinematic carnage is a tiny but compelling reason to sit through this farrago: the simple but beautifully modulated performance of Taissa Farmiga as James’s girlfriend Sarah. She is the younger sister of Vera Farmiga from UP IN THE
AIR (Oscar nominee) and BATES MOTEL (Emmy nominee), and if she finds the right material and supportive colleagues, she will hopefully enjoy a fine career. 2.5 cats”
“Seen Tuesday, June 3, 2014, Netflix, New York.”