A very wacky and disjointed film that is historically significant as the first project produced by Jay Craven's Fledgling Films Institute, which offers teenagers a chance to experience professional filmmaking. The film itself is full of teen actors, and was written by a committee of 43 teenagers under Craven's supervision. So if you want to see a teen film that was actually WRITTEN by teenagers, go for this one. It might not be available outside of Vermont, however, but can be ordered directly from Jay Craven's company, Kingdom County Productions - you can also check out the stats on later Fledgling Films projects, none of which have actually been released yet. Recommended for the novelty, if nothing else. Just don't mind the smelt song. (You'll understand what I'm talking about if you watch the film.) If nothing else, 'In Jest' is a good first foray into the realm of disproving Hollywood's ludicrous stereotypes about teenagers. Now if only they'd release the products of the 1999 and 2000 institutes, we could see some even better teen-written film....but until then, get this one and wait.
