It could be argued that at least some American film makers like to make films about high school because that setting serves as microcosmic reflection of American society in general, namely in depiction of sharp division between tiny minority that has everything and majority that has nothing. Main characters in Jawbreaker, 1999 black comedy written and directed by Darren Stein, belong to the former category. Courtney Alice Shayne (played by Rose McGowan), Julie Freeman (played by Rebecca Gayheart) and Marcie Fox (played by Julie Benz) belong to the clique of the most beautiful and most popular students that dominate Reagan High. Liz Purr (played by Charlotte Ayanna), the fourth member of the group, is about to have 17th birthday so her friends decide to celebrate by staging mock kidnapping. The prank goes terribly wrong when Liz Purr accidentally chokes to death with jawbreaker stuck in her throat. Courtney and her friends desperately try to hide the evidence that could incriminate them, but those activities are witnessed by Fern Mayo (played by Judy Greer), quiet, reserved and unremarkable student that worshipped Liz Purr from afar. The clique decides to buy her silence by adopting her. Fern is given makeover and soon becomes one of the most popular girls in school. She soon becomes even more arrogant and ruthless than Courtney, while Julie, on the other hand, begins to develops conscience and questions whether covering up former friend’s death was right thing to do. Because of that she gets kicked out of the clique while, at the same time, dedicated police detective Vera Cruz (played by Pam Grier) wants to solve the mystery of Liz’s death.
Many critics complained that Jawbreaker lacked originality and that Darren Stein owed too much to creators of Heathers, black comedy that had handled the same concept much more successfully. The basic tone of the film, on the other hand, is closer to more recent films, like Very Bad Things. Like that film, Jawbreaker suffers from poor balance between bleakness and humour; there are too little jokes that work or are particularly funny. Most of characters being dislikeable and difficult for audience to identify with doesn’t help either. Like with most teen-oriented films in late 1990s, the cast is chosen mostly on the account of looks and less on the account of acting ability. The insufficiency of the latter becomes apparent in scenes featuring always dependable Pam Grier, who proves much superior to their younger colleagues despite her character being used in mostly unnecessary subplot. Even worse is Stein’s mishandling the script by creating plot hole after Jawbreaker looks like an insult to viewers’ intelligence. The similar concept would four years later would be used in Mean Girls with much more success.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417 Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
