Lonesome Jim (2005)

Lonesome Jim is directed by Steve Buscemi. That's good enough for me.
It also features Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler, who are good too, which sweetens the deal.
I know it won't set the world alight. I'm sure it'll be a fairly withdrawn, intimate affair similar to his directorial debut, Trees Lounge.


Meh. Lonesome Jim was a major snore fest.
I'd love to know what attracted all the talent to work on it. Cos i can't imagine it was the weak script or mild subject matter; the 'loner goes back home' theme has been run into the ground since forever.
I'll accept that there are a few laughs in Lonesome Jim but not enough to actually care about what's going on.
I'm sincerely curious about where the missing link is in the success of this film. As much as i hate to say this, i might have to level some of it at Buscemi cos it's just not very interesting to look at or watch. 
It is shot on digital, but it's more that it looks more like a skate video than a feature film. It's a micro budget film, i accept that but i don't see why that should be an excuse. It's impertinent of me to bring this up but everyone here could have made a lot more money or better spent their time doing more high-profile gigs... and i have no idea why they didn't.
Not that i'm blaming Affleck but it's not even that, his character is dislikable. It's worse. I was totally uninterested in him this film, which would be a problem since he's the main character and in almost every scene.
Liv Tyler here- the love interest, another snore. I don't want to rag on Liv Tyler. I had the biggest crush on her when Sleeping Beauty came out (shout out to Bertolucci and Mr. Skin) and she is one of the founders of the Manic Pixie Dream girl movement in movies but her performance here is soo dull.
Kevin Corrigan's in this and he does his grumpy loner bit, which i love but the only good performance and it's really good, is Mary Kay Place playing Jim's mother. You really empathise with this woman who's coddled her kids and given then everything they want but they've just developed these incredibly unhappy personalities and can't understand why.
I mean what I don't get is, i'd imagine it's very hard to get people to produce your script, even at the lowest end of the scale- you're still talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds/dollars required and you need to enthuse hundreds of people about it from actors to producers to executives so
1. Who read this and liked it?
2. Who thought 'ooh,someone needs to make this into a movie - ooh, JAG marathon on Sky3!'
But in the end, you kinda just wanna give everyone in this movie a slap and tell them to buck up! and if we're looking for a moral from this situation-even if Buscemi does want to direct you in his movie, read the fuggin script before you commit.

I watched Lonesome Jim (2005), on BBC I-Player.
My 2011 in Movies will return with Please Give (2010)...