3 out of 5

Director: Randall Rubin, John Schroder

This is actually a skosh above three stars… at various points the movie went up and down in rating, leaning much more toward positive… but four stars has this feeling of you should see this and, yknow, I dont know if you should. Because you liked Transformers. The story to Jimmy and Judy has been told before: ill-fated lovers. Two outcasts bonding over their outcastiness. What gives this movie its value is in its presentation and… not subtleties, for sure, and not details, but… attributes? J & J is shot first-person. Many first-person films come up with semi-lame excuses for filming that dont hold up for the majority of the movie (oh, you want to document this?) and J & J does share that but what was appreciated was how it was edited together. Often the camera is set down casually, not focused on the scene, and we rely on the dialogue and sound to carry us through. The dialogue is not overwhelmingly powerful – its very normal – but both of these aspects are what make it work. Its very natural. I believe this couple. I believe the escalation of events, I believe their thought processes. And unlike other films of this nature, whenever it seems to go in a potentially over-the-top direction (as in overkill), we either change scenes or something happens. The awareness of splicing this together was top-notch. The rating, as I mentioned, goes up and down depending on your feelings regarding their actions and words. Do you read into it or not? Is it just an example or is there a looming message? However, when we get to William Sandlers portion toward the end I was very impressed with what was being woven into the script… the very last shot, unfortunately, changes the first-person perspective and even though its just a flash… it felt wrong. So: combine every doomed relationship movie, take away its budget and dose it with reality, and you wind up with this interestingly made flick.