Product: Jesus' Son [VHS]
Rating: 3.0
A collection of memorable performances
Watching the film adaptation of Denis Johnson's collection of short stories, Jesus' Son, is a lot like watching Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. You sit there entertained by wonderful performances but you can't help but notice the story isn't all that great. The script is very clunky, feels a bit forced and loses much of charm of the source material, but thankfully, Billy Crudup's performance saves the film. Billy Crudup really shows his acting range in this film, portraying the hapless but lovable protagonist, "F.H.". This episodic film is futher helped along by an all-star cast of cameo appearances by Dennis Leary, Will Patton, Holly Hunter, Dennis Hopper and the hilarious Jack Black.Stylistically, Alison Maclean does a decent job of transferring Jesus' Son to the screen. Personally, I felt the film wasn't visually dark enough in comparision to the book. But with most book to film adaptations, perceived accuracy tends to differ from person to person. Although there are some really interesting visual effects, Jesus' Son cinematically is quite plain.Overall, Jesus' Son is worth watching. In fact, Jack Black's scenes alone warrant a viewing.