JAWBREAKER Reviewed by Jamie Peck
To further the comparison quotient, sections of the movie also veer dangerously close to "Clueless" and "Very Bad Things," which is ironic because it _is_ clueless and chock full of very bad things. Said deplorable act opens the film, as three members (Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart and Julie Benz) of the afore-mentioned popular quartet surprise the fourth (Charlotte Roldan) on the morning of her birthday: they don disguises, jostle her from bed, stuff the titular candy in her mouth to keep her quiet, and toss her in the trunk of a car. Their intent is to take her out for a celebratory pancake breakfast, but the confection melts, and she's DOA at the IHOP. Like, whoops.
McGowan's fearless, nasty group leader Courtney, described by somebody as "Satan in heels," decides to make the crime scene resemble an assault by a male rapist, but their cover is promptly blown by class nerd Fern (Judy Evans Greer). What's a psychopathic senior sexpot to do? Why, welcome her to the "family," of course. Courtney allows Fern to take the unintentional victim's place in their posse in exchange for her silence, and the dull meek-into-monstrous makeover subplot that follows isn't the slightest bit interesting. Nor is the time devoted to the defection of Gayheart's conflicted Julie. She turns out to have a conscience. Not good.
Given "Jawbreaker"'s visual flair and deliciously mordant set-up, this material could have been steered into flashy, funny "I Know What You Did Last Marking Period" territory. But after a satisfyingly loopy first quarter, it's clear that this "Jawbreaker"'s center is purely sour. Once the body is discovered, Pam Grier shows up as a detective determined to crack the case, and the movie discards any humorous sensibilities it might have maintained up until that point for unbelievable plot holes and unacceptable plot twists. But if Grier seems to have come from another film, McGowan deserves one. Her dynamite performance as a cold, calculating rhymes-with-witch keeps this mess watchable.
Much of the problem seems to stem from director Darren Stein's sloppy screenplay. The rules for successful dark humor state to either ground it in disturbing reality or drench it with cartoony meanness. It's immensely difficult to cater to both extremes, and that's precisely what "Jawbreaker" tries - and fails - to do. Take, for example, the final sequence, which is set at the big prom and contains obvious allusions to "Carrie." Are we supposed to laugh at what happens? If so, that violates the movie's more authentic elements and lets several characters off the hook just to finalize things on a cutesy, fantasy-oriented note. No wonder "Jawbreaker" ends up being hard to swallow.
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