Jesus Rolls

This is a weird movie that, in a way, reminds me a lot of Joker.

We get solid performances throughout. Turturro and Cannavale are rock solid and just about always are in my opinion. Tautou is an extra manic pixie dream girl here and it really works. We also get a strong cast of cameos and auxiliary characters with some serious star power all delivering great characters. I actually like the character Turturro is playing as well, he's got this zen hippie criminal thing going that I find oddly compelling from him.

Problem is, this isn't "Jesus" and has nothing to do with The Big Lebowski. This movie is desperately missing the Coen Brothers. It's quirky and weird and surreal, like one of their films but it lacks that spark, that little something extra to really make it pop. When you throw that in with this forced, unnecessary sequel/spin-off and it just never feels right. Turturro's character is enjoyable, but it's not at all how I remember Jesus.

Hence the Joker comparison. I think the Joker is a better movie if it's not about THE Joker and I think this is vastly improved if it's got nothing to do with Lebowski. But, we have to live with what we have and not what I wish we had so this is what we get. A movie with a solid core but an absolute wreck of a premise. There wasn't a scene where it wasn't distracting or frustrating and I just constantly wished I could forget this movie's connections, but I can't. All that said, it's solid background fodder I think, it's just not good for anything more than that.

This film is just horrid. The story is very bad, as if it's written by someone who is very very sexually frustrated. All the characters are unlikeable, and I actually hate them. The only thing that impressed me was the fact that they managed to convince so many established actors and actresses to be naked in this film.

This is a strange one. Many are saying that if you go in with expectations you'll be disappointed, the fact 'The Jesus' has been placed in this strange brew encourages and stokes those expectations and it is naive to think it wouldn't.

A remake with an existing character thrown in (from a beloved cult movie no less) and the only reference to the characters origins are to unpick a troublesome character detail and send him out on the road.

Passable, modestly funny in places but grindingly and conspicuously zany most of the time.

Couple this with Turturro's 'Fading Gigolo' and a pattern might be emerging about the director's desire to place himself in roles where he can direct Vanessa Paradise, Sharon Stone and now Audrey Tautou to find him irresistible.

At best a mildly diverting film you'll likely dismiss at worst an unnecessary annex to the Lebowski myth that could easily have been made with no connection to it. Moribund.

I was waiting to see this, with great hopes of something good. It started out great, funny, wild, then just went downhill after 15 minutes. I could barely make it through to the end. As usual, a big disappointment from mainstream filmmakers.

We all loved Big Lebowski. It was a masterpiece. And The Jesus was such a great little part of it. But it doesn't warrant this debacle. I could waste your time with long-winded, yammering examples of what's wrong with it, but you can probably already tell. Just watch Lebowski again. Unless you're like me, you haven't seen it for awhile. Personally, I just finished watching it, to cleanse myself of this. Great cast, bad movie.