Movie Review: Jules

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

A really strange but also very heartfelt movie.

This film may have an incredibly weird sense of humor and be about an alien landing in someone's backyard, but what really makes it stand out is just how sweet and goodhearted it is. Underneath everything this is a movie about growing older and feeling that you no longer have a place in this world. To juxtapose this with an alien being on a strange planet, only further makes this point stand out. It is easy to relate to and feel for each of our main characters because this movie does such a good job of making us feel all that they are going through. Not that this is hurt by truly great performances from Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris and Jane Curtin hurt at all. All three of them put out an effortless charm that makes us immediately care about these characters. For all of our main human characters, they find comfort in this strange alien and though he doesn't talk, he makes each of them feel much less alone in the world and gives each of them a little more strength to push through. Though this may sound corny and cliché in the context of the film it works very well and it is hard to leave this movie without simply feeling at least a little bit better about whatever is happening in your life. As well as being a touching story with a great message this movie is also very funny. I did not except to laugh out loud watching this but I definitely did and quite often. This was truly of not only me but everyone else in the theater with me. 

This film does have some problems though. There are subplots brought up that are not given the time to be fully fleshed out and their resolutions can feel quite underwhelming. Also there is some darker humor here, that while funny, feels out of place with the rest of this mostly goodhearted movie. 

This is simply a very delightful movie.