Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Steve Pulaski 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.

Ichigo I found it more depressing than funny. I was looking for more humor than sadness. It's it turns out to be very very sad. Everything turns for the worst for Jimmy. Everything that happens to Jimmy gets more and more depressing. He gets fired from the grocery job. He doesn't get any laughs at the comedy clubs. He keeps getting fired from his jobs. His wife leaves him. His grandma can't move on her own. His insurance is canceled. He is unable to buy his grandma's pills. It's all so sad. I only laughed twice and that's when his friend was moving boxes on the cart and they fall over twice. It's sad to see what happens to him and how he reacts to everything.

dlamanti I kept waiting around for something redeeming to happen - it doesn't. As far as I could see, this was a totally pointless movie about a loser who never learns anything about himself. He is a self centered, self pitying person who never "gets it" - i.e., he is the problem. It makes me wonder - Who would put up money to make a movie like this? This was so bad!!!

acearms I watched this movie because I'm a fan of Ethan Hawke. Sad to say, there was little good about it. Frank Whaley always looked strained trying to get his part right, while Ethan appeared relaxed and natural. That's the difference between a want-a-be and an outstanding actor. The high light of the movie was when Ethan Hawke, playing an inept grocery store stocking clerk, kept dumping his load of boxes off the dolly. The part played by Whaley was of a loser want-a-be stand-up comic who could not make the grade and was never funny. The pathetic Whaley character was a thief (stole from his employer), drunk (what he stole was beer), argumentative individual (couldn't hold a job), and general misfit. As to the movie itself, it was a drag, repetitive in its plot with only the local changing. In other words, the plot was recycled every few minutes. In general slow and predictable, a bore to watch, and if you haven't seen it yet, don't waste your time.