The Jimmy Show

The biggest point of irony in Frank Whaley's The Jimmy Show is that, while the film concerns the ideas of a standup comic and his standup comedy routine, it is not funny or comedic in the least bit. In fact, it's one of the saddest films I've seen all year. It tells the story of Jimmy O'Brien (Whaley), who slogs at his redundant day job as a supermarket clerk, ripping the company off of its twenty-four packs of Pabst Blue Ribbon every single day and talking to his only friend, a stoner named Ray (Ethan Hawke). By night, Jimmy finds some sort of neurotic solace on stage at seamy comedy clubs, where he doesn't really tell jokes (well, attempts to but is met with not a single chuckle), but hold a therapeutic venting session for himself as the audience blankly stares or tunes him out. After watching him theoretically "bomb" a couple nights, we wonder why he keeps doing this. It isn't until we hear him tell Ray that he loves how people have to listen to him, whether they like it or not.

Right then and there, we get a sense of how lonely, desperate, and tired Jimmy really is. He's tired of not succeeding, job-hopping trying to find what he likes, but managing to find a way to screw it all up, whether it's stealing or simply not being cut out for the position. Jimmy lives with his wife Annie (Carla Gugino), whom he married right after he got her pregnant, and takes after his disabled grandmother, buying her her expensive medication and trying to make sure she sees another day. It doesn't take long for us to realize that Jimmy is sad and kind of a pathetic character, but even if some of his problems are brought-on himself and some of his actions aren't necessarily the right ones, especially if you're trying to build yourself a better life, it takes about fifteen minutes into the film before we start seriously feeling for the character and waiting for his break - like Jimmy himself is known to do.

Frank Whaley is tremendous as Jimmy, quiet, unassuming, but an incomparable knockout of a performer here, effectively conveying the many moods of his character through numerous different interactions with people or through his standup performances. Jimmy's standup performances are some of the most original things in the film, as they effortlessly structure and mold the character into a less-content and more quietly-disillusioned person than we could've ever imagined. His standup performances are occasionally interrupted by hecklers, to which Jimmy has no problem putting them on the spot in a unique and original way. Even though they may lead to him getting attacked on stage, at least he finds something resembling the power to defend himself spontaneously.

One of Jimmy's darkest insights is when, after Annie abruptly tells him she wants to part ways, he gets up on stage one evening and says, "One minute, you're falling in love over an ankle bracelet. And the next minute, you're dividing up the furniture. And in the middle of them two minutes, you make a baby, who's gotta learn it all by themselves." Piercing insight like that is what keeps the film afloat in a thematic sense, and blends fittingly with the film's great performances and slice-of-life focus.

The lengthy final scene in The Jimmy Show, set to a memorable and somber piano tune, makes for one of the most upsetting scenes in the film, regardless of how cliché it may seem. This is predominately because we see it happen in other films but, at the end of the day, there's still a chance for the main character. By then, we realize the character has not only run out of chances but has never really had one in the first place. "I've had a tough year," he says one night at a comedy club, but the audience, at this point, feels like heckling and saying, "you've had a tough life." For those who have a difficult time imagining what this film is like, imagine an episode of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm that isn't funny but deeply heartbreaking.

Starring: Frank Whaley, Carla Guigo, and Ethan Hawke. Directed by: Frank Whaley.

I think "depressing" is definitely the best word for this movie. After seeing it once, I was not only saddened, but downright angry that anyone would make a movie that made me feel this way.

After masochistically making myself see it again, I grew to appreciate it somewhat more. The fact is, the movie does what it does very well; unfortunately, what it does is show us the story of a man whose life just outright sucks. He's a terrible comedian who can't say anything funny, he's a slightly alcoholic husband who can't support his family, and he's a lousy worker in a lousy job who can't make ends meet. The only person Jimmy sticks by is his grandmother, who ironically is the source of many of the disasters in his life.

In summary, I have to say it's a well made movie, but if you watch it, be prepared to be uncomfortable with life for a while.

This is a well-done man vs. himself movie, with a downward spiral that is more moderated and even than most of those sorts of stories. This isn't a party people, drug-addled downward spiral, or a thug life, violence-addled downward spiral -- it's just a normal life, unfortunate circumstances, rut-addled downward spiral.

I liked the comedy routine gimmick most of the time, and it provided an off-beat break from the otherwise bleak and mostly mundane storyline -- that being the life of Jimmy, who has become trapped in a sour, unfulfilled plane of his own existence, partly due to circumstance and partly due to a poisoned outlook on life.

Those who have said "don't watch this for a pick-me-up" are absolutely correct -- this is a painful movie that is likely to leave you with a grimace, or at least a furrowed brow. It's a sad but not unrealistic testament to the kind of unsatisfying, confounded lives that are lived by plenty of people every day. Lonely, uncomfortable with the results of one's life, yearning for something more but chained down by the shackles of life (imagined or real, or both).

Another reviewer here asked what value there is to be had from this movie. The answer is that it serves as a reminder of lives that have neither a happy ending, nor an over-done, trite, or bizarre bad ending. It's the photo negative of "Falling Down", in a way, where the Michael Douglas character doesn't clench his jaw and go on a beeline ass-kicking spree across town -- he just clenches his jaw and keeps trudging along as dark turns to black. (And does an equally-grim stand-up comedy act, which gets better as it goes along, without ever getting funny.)

It definitely deserves a better rating than the 4.4 it has now. I gave it a 7. There's nothing wrong with it aside from the fact that it portrays a pretty ordinary, unfortunate life story. It does that well, and the comedy routine thing is a nice quirk.

I don't write a lot of reviews but this was one sad movie. It seemed like the redemption was right there, but Jimmy just didn't grasp the humor as much as he embraced the darkness. Maybe it was supposed to be a cautionary tale? Maybe it was a life lesson, wrapped up in a tragic story of a man who's life unfolds before his eyes as he yearns to find the humor in his tragic story? It may be worth your time, but it's not a comedy.

what a depressing film this was! frank whaley stars as jim, a guy who finds himself narrating his his dwindling life saga to a near-empty room of strangers at each open mic night in a small town new jersey bar. he almost forces the crowd to listen to how each day seems as bad as the one before, with him getting fired from his job, his wife divorcing him, or having to care for his ill mother (although that doesn't seem to both him as much).

i have always enjoyed frank whaley in comedy (although he does almost none of that anymore) but this does not really qualify as comedy, no matter how dark or satirical. although, there is one scene in the movie where jim is working at swamie hots, an Indian fast food place, where you get a little comedic shine on an otherwise horribly depressing film.