Its mopey pace and the forced 'quirkiness' of its characters will have you reaching for the Ambien in no time.
Comment
03/31/06
Lonesome Jim (2006)
59
%
Tomatometer
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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.
Theatrical Release:11-04-2008
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... [More]
Starring: Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, Mary Kay Place, Seymour Cassel
Director: Steve Buscemi
Reviews for Lonesome Jim
Top Critic[Strouse] has written a forlorn and poetic story, and Buscemi has made it into a movie about taking a deep breath and deciding to stop being a mope.
03/30/06
Top CriticThere's only so long you can watch this guy mope around without wanting to scream, 'Dude, what's your problem?'
03/30/06
Yes, it all sounds quirky like most 'back-home' movies do, yet all of it rings true.
03/30/06
Lonesome Jim -- despite its excellent cast, controlled direction and moody, well-judged atmospherics -- tends to alienate us, just as Affleck's Jim does.
03/30/06
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.
03/30/06
A slice of deadly dull life.
03/30/06
Steve Buscemi’s a very good director.
03/28/06
The stellar supporting cast helps compensate, and Phil Parmet's muddy photography is a constant visual reminder of the everyday desolation that helped drag Jim into his black hole of despair.
03/24/06
If viewers can just get in synch with the movie's low energy and decidedly minor key, there are many pleasures to be had here, not the least of which is Affleck's affecting, unadorned performance.
03/24/06
If Lonesome Jim feels like it's perpetually on the verge of evaporating, Buscemi brings to the material the boundless empathy for misfits and screw-ups he displayed in Trees Lounge.
03/24/06
Indie moviegoers have met slackers like Jim before, but he's still good company. The laughs are frequent while the emotions ring true.
03/24/06
One of those indie excursions to Loserville that lasts an hour and a half but feels longer than Roots.
03/24/06
The real problem is its absolute absence of energy.
03/24/06
Steve Buscemi paints an honest picture of working class suburbia, where living rooms are covered with shag carpets and Applebees is the best restaurant in town.
03/24/06
This flick is pure Schadenfreude
03/24/06
Focuses in on a mother-son connection, rarely explored in films, after a depressed young man returns home to Indiana to start his life over again.
03/24/06
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.
03/23/06
The 27-year-old protagonist of Steve Buscemi's deadpan comedy Lonesome Jim lives out the worst nightmare of every bushy-tailed go-getter who moves to New York to Be Somebody (in his case, a writer) and fails miserably.
03/23/06
Top CriticAffleck is simply too clean-cut for the role.
03/23/06
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