Lonesome Jim
Studio: IFC Films
Rated: R
Cast: Liv Tyler, Casey Affleck, Mary Kay Place, Kevin Corrigan, Seymour Cassel
Director: Steve Buscemi
Screenwriter: James C. Strouse
WorkNameSort: Lonesome Jim
Our Rating: 4.00
Director Steve Buscemi scores a wry coup, bringing a hilariously hangdog air to this story (seen at the Florida Film Festival) of an inveterate loser’s homecoming. Poor, luckless Jim (Casey Affleck), his career as a New York dogwalker in tatters, returns to Indiana to enjoy a much-deserved nervous breakdown ‘ but merely succeeds in pushing his older brother (Kevin Corrigan) into a suicidal coma. Looks like Jim will have to stick around awhile, if only to take over for the sidelined Timmy as coach of an inept girl’s basketball team. For distraction, there’s a nurse (Liv Tyler) who’ll agree to put up with Jim’s premature-ejaculation problem if he lets her kid tag along on dates. Affleck makes a perfectly downcast lightning rod for the ennui-ridden goings-on, and as a director, Buscemi totally gets the defeatist beats of James C. Strouse’s script. (R; opens Friday, May 12, at Touchstar Cinemas Altamonte 8, 407-888-2228)
This article appears in May 10-16, 2006.