Jesus' Son

Bomb Rating: 

Personally, I prefer the tales about the importance of Jesus where the reward for good works is a new Ferrari.

I've already seen this film twice and I'm not dead, which may say more for the film than I'm willing to admit. The reason I've seen it twice is that I caught it at a film festival almost a year ago, forgot that I had seen it, and then accidentally went into the theater a second time. It was literally a living nightmare.

Of course, this is exactly the type of film that film festival audiences adore. It has no story, but it has tons of poor, messed up people whom the audience can feel sympathy for and laugh at. It also allows audiences to thank their lucky stars that those people are too poor to be sitting next to them at a film festival where a pass costs $500.

Director Alison Maclean is really trying to get to the heart of the meaning of Jesus with this story about a nice, but directionless dude, FH (Billy Crudup), who falls in love with Michelle (Samantha Morton) and gets hooked on drugs. After encountering a bevy of weirdoes, including Wayne (Denis Leary), Georgie (Jack Black), John Smith (Will Patton), Mira (Holly Hunter) and Bill (Dennis Hopper), FH finally learns that leading a good life means helping others.

Personally, I prefer the tales about the importance of Jesus where the reward for good works is a new Ferrari. How come Donald Trump gets gorgeous women, fast cars and big boats, and FH -- Jesus' Son, supposedly -- gets to help wackos in a mental institution and like it? You see, helping weirdoes in and of itself does not form the philosophy of the film. Only when FH decides that he likes it does the message resonate. Again, you can see why this is the perfect film festival film. The audience leaves and thinks to itself, "Wow, isn't that great for FH? Glad it wasn't me."

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