Release Date: January 12, 2007
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Stars: Bruce Willis, Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake
Runtime: 122 min
This is one of my favourite bio pics. It is interesting, even though it plays out traditionally with room for surprise. It is both a depiction of Jesse James Hollywood (portrayed by Emile Hirsch) at a certain point in his life and a coming-of-age tale of a young boy (Anton Yelchin) who gets kidnapped, all because he wanted a little space from his over-bearing parents. He learns the folly of his ways, though. This is generally an emotional and powerful film. There is one scene near the end that is designed to be powerful, but becomes weird and tedious. I can also see why this movie may become to tedious to some because of its excessive coarse language (seriously, if any film could get an NC-17 rating just for coarse language, this would be it — it definitely hits triple digits), but I’m usually able to get past it. That is one of the things I don’t like that much about this, even though this might just be in my top 100 favourite films (okay, maybe 200). The casting is near-perfect, with top-notch performances from an ensemble cast including Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake (shining vibrantly), Anton Yelchin, Shawn Hatosy, the crazy (and crazy good) Ben Foster and Bruce Willis.
85/100
I think this is one of the best movies of 2007.
I wonder which scene you’re referring to. Are you talking about the scene in the desert at night?
I tried to be discreet as possible lol, sorry. I’m talking about the one where the real mom of the kid who got kidnapped was being interviewed. I thought it got weird in a hurry, unfortunately 😦
Thanks for the comment, Franz.
Ah! Well, good thing I asked because I was ready to get on you about the brilliance of the desert scene. Haha.
This is the movie that I began to take notice of Anton Yelchin. Everyone was saying how good JT was, but I was more impressed with Yelchin’s performance.
I think the desert scene is one of the best parts of the movie. Brilliant is the right word, Franz. Hahaha.
I had enough love to give out to both, I’d say 😀 They’re both great actors. I’ve liked Yelchin in everything I’ve seen him in, even if I’ve only seen him in a few other movies (Star Trek, Fright Night, Charlie Bartlett).