The Journey of Jared Price

This sweet, simple story on the surface is about the coming of age of a small town youth in the big city. But at its heart is the very honest, rarely touched upon tale of a young man struggling with the pressures and realities of first love in an environment where issues of the heart can often be tainted by lust and greed. Although the production values are low, and the setups simple, for the most part, the performances and themes are fresh and compelling.

This is not the worst movie I have ever seen, although it is pretty bad. I could at least watch it, and Corey is adorable.

The dialog is stiff and forced. It often seems like the actors are performing impromptu. There are numerous technical errors. Lighting being the most notable. The sex scenes are seemed strange to me because in each of them the young men roll over onto their bellies to have there underwear removed. I don't know if I missed something, but it was strange because it happened every time - no variety.

If you're into really bad movies, try Travelling to Olympia. Now that's bad!

THE JOURNEY OF JARED PRICE is a small budget Indie that has so much going for it that overlooking the squeaky production values is not a problem. Though it is obvious that the film was made in a short time with a minimal budget (the quality of the film is washed out to almost variations of gray), the direction and the cast serve the screenplay by writer/director Dustin Lance Black well. It has some very fine moments.

Jared Price (Corey Spears), 19 naïve years of age, arrives in Los Angeles from Georgia with high hopes and little money and checks into a youth hostel where he meets Robert (Josh Jacobson) who is more than casually attentive to the oblivious but interested Jared, and finds a job as an attendant to blind woman Mrs. Haines (Rocki Craigg), a kind and wise wealthy lonely lady whose son Matthew (Steve Tyler) is 'paying for' someone to give his mother the attention she needs. Jared and Mrs. Haines quickly bond, each supplying the care and tenderness the other needs. Matthew is living the high life on his mother's wealth and is in a long-term (but only partially non-monogamous) relationship with Andrew (Bryan Shyne) and when he meets Jared the signals go up and Matthew introduces Jared to his first physical relationship. Matthew's only conscience is his work partner Kate (Gillian Harris) who warns Matthew to be true to Andrew and not to pursue Jared. But as the tryst between Matthew and Jared deepens, each of the men learns more about himself and what is actually important in life and the story ends with enlightened views of the meaning of love.

Each of the actors does a fine job finding the core of each character and there is enough comedy to keep the drama afloat. Yes, there are scenes of bedroom activity, but they for the most part are done with taste. This is a fine example of how a good story and crew can make a good movie on a minimal budget. Were that there were more of these...Grady Harp

In the commentary, the director says that the movie is a traditional tragi-comedy with a moral appropriate for young students. Considering the tendency of independent movies to plumb mysterious spiritual depths, it is refreshing to see a movie that takes a dim view of materialism and selfishness. (The mysterious depths of contemporary movies are usually the astonishing ability of Hollywood to peddle psychobabble and drivel as intelligent.) The explicit scenes introduce a dark theme: is passion a bottomless pit? Are physical pleasures ever enough?

The movie is an interesting and amusing contrast to Sunset Strip. Here the old woman is a saintly grandmother and her son is horny ho.

The movie was made by a young director in one week. His budget was probably a lot less than 1% of the budget for a typical Hollywood movie made for a general release.

This film was shot on a small budget in just a few days--and it shows. I thought the story was nice, and the script was even good. I would give this movie higher marks if the cinematography and acting had been better. Overall, I recommend the film.