Jawbreaker (1999)
* out of *****
Cast: Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, Julie Benz, Judy Greer, William Katt, Jeff Conaway, Carol Kane, Pam Grier, Marilyn Manson Written and Directed by: Darren Stein Running Time: 87 minutes
Three of Reagan High School's elite females kidnap their friend on her birthday (more specifically, they break into her room as she's sleeping, stuff a jawbreaker in her mouth, cover her mouth with tape, tie her up, and throw her in the trunk of their car. Not surprisingly, she ends up choking to death on the jawbreaker. Time for comedy!
One of the girls in the clique expresses concern over the death of their friend and what they've done to cause it, so the other two quickly oust her from the group and alienate her at school. Then, after another girl overhears them confess to killing their friend, in exchange for her silence they give her a makeover and invite her to join their group. This is pretty much all that happens in Jawbreaker.
The film's opening three minutes or so which set the film in motion are the only noteworthy events here. None of the lead characters are interesting in the slightest, and the supporting cast (who would have been interesting) is wasted beyond belief. Pam Grier is on hand to play a gritty police detective investigating the murder case, but ultimately she has absolutely no bearing on anything. William Katt (TV's The Greatest American Hero, House) plays the father of the dead girl, and he has all of about three seconds of screen time. Honestly, do you still get paid if you just wander into a movie and not say a word?
The only moment in the film that even remotely made me smile lasts about one minute. It involves Jeff Conaway as the father of one of the girls, who tries to bond with his snotty daughter by recalling how she used to listen to Tiffany records.
Believe me, I'm all for a well done dark comedy. But Jawbreaker makes no attempts at humor whatsoever, dark or otherwise (unless you count cartoony sound effects which are included in many of the film's scenes). It's just up there on the screen. You'd like to think that you don't know exactly where the film is going, but you will, trust me. You'll be hoping that at some point, maybe the film will get intelligent, maybe do something different, maybe have someone turn the tables on these uppity girls. But that won't be happening until the film's finale, which is an abrupt, contrived, ridiculous mess.
Basically, Jawbreaker is Heathers '99. All I could think about as I watched this film were things I liked about Heathers. And I hated Heathers. So what does that tell you? [R]
The Jacksonville Film Journal -- Film Reviews by Chuck Dowling URL:http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Email:chuckd21@leading.net
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