Jaded

Clearly a low-budget movie with minimal style. Since this is the case, one would hope for an abundance of substance to overcome to obvious lact of style. Sadly, this isn't the case. While the premise of the movie is interesting and deserves to be discussed (re: men are not the only ones capable of hurting another human being, all it takes is the right circumstances and the right (or wrong, actually) frame of mine for a heinous crime to be commited), but a leisurely-paced direction left a lot to be desired. Acting by all concern is one-note and not effective, though Gugino is possibly a standout (though not by much). This truly feels like a low-budget production, but that in itself is not an excuse for making a poor movie. I cannot stress enough that while the movie's pace is laborious (much to its detriment), this is not a bad thing, since Kubrick's movies are known for their slow pace. Yet, when the pacing is this laborious and what's happening onscreen is ineffective, this leaves the viewer to wonder what's on the other channel, which happens to me a few times.

Jaded starts out strong, but loses steam quickly and trails off into nothing. It raises a lot of interesting issues and then does nothing with them. Omitting the court scene at the end could be forgivable but leaving several loose ends without resolution was unsettling at best. Although for the most part those threads (such as what exactly the customers in the bar were paying $500 for) have fairly obvious conclusions, leaving them hanging in the air in that way robbed this movie of a satisfying conclusion. As it is it almost seems as if they ran out of money to film the courtroom scene and thus made a movie out of the investigation and then just tacked on a ending.

The low budget for this film was painfully apparent - it seems almost like a student film. I've seen better production values in porno. Which is puzzling since for the most part the actors involved are professionals that are recognizable from more superior efforts (such as Aida Turturro from the Sopranos). Along with any sense of flow, the director failed to elicit good performances from her actors that we know can do better, with the exception of Carla Gugino, who seemed to be acting in a different film with the intensity that she brought to her performance. She was unfortunately the only thing enjoyable about this movie with a strong premise but no follow through.

And shame on whoever commented that Carla was chunky - do women have to be anorexics with stick arms and legs to be acceptable? She's a gorgeous young woman and those kinds of comments are just ridiculous.

From the comments below, this movie apparently was not well-liked. With the subject matter being unusual, and some might say salacious, I get that many people may figure it as exploitative. I did not really see it that way. The film was clearly low-budget, and that did hurt it somewhat. I thought that a lot of the actors did fine jobs, if not Oscar-worthy. Rya Kihlstedt did well with a challenging role, and I liked Anna Levine and Aida Turturro as the detective. And Carla Gugino was very good, playing her damaged character with intensity. Someone below commented that she was "plump at the time". I don't know what she looks like now, but I thought she was gorgeous. A real woman's body looks far better than the currently popular Angelina-Jolie-type anorexic look which is NOT attractive. Although flawed, the movie held my interest throughout.

"Jaded" offers a premise with potential as it looks at the rape of a woman by two other women and ask the question "when is rape not rape?". Unfortunately the flick seems to suffer from bad direction as it slogs through legal minutia while trying to weave some kind of story with a handful of foul mouthed and poorly portrayed characters only to end abruptly. "Jaded" is lame stuff only for the bleary-eyed couch potato in the mood for some dark drama.

Caryn Krooth is an interesting director. But I think she was confused whether to make a sleazy lesbian thriller or a film that about the limitations of rape laws or a police procedural. Carla Gugino is great eye candy. So are the other females including the rather corpulent investigator (Aida Turturro) who always wears low cut dresses. The threesome lesbian skinny dipping that leads to rape is very well shot. Rya Kihlstedtthere is excellent as the vicious lesbian. She really pulled off the role well with the great introduction scene at the bar. Catherine Dent was pretty and I could sense a hint of sexual tension between her and Turturro. But the sexual tension was not well developed. There are certain arty farty student aspects to the film. But overall, i liked it. It does not really work as a mystery/police procedural. But it is a nice little unique film with a great Carla Gugino, set in a sleepy beach town.

(7.5/10)