Jawbreaker | Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart

Jawbreaker | Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart | Everything is peachy keen..

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Jawbreaker

	Jawbreaker Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart Sony Pictures, 1999 average customer review:based on 157 reviews view larger image
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Rose is great

I really enjoyed this movie and I have seen small parts of the movie but not until now have I seen the whole thing. I think everyone needs to see this movie it is one of my favorite movies of all time. The begining my throw some people off but I really don't think you can do that but it could happen. It is a good look at popular girls and what they have to do to stay on top.

Everything is peachy keen..

In the same vein as Heathers, Jawbreaker is a darkly humorous high-school tale of 4 best girlfriends who "kidnap" their friend Liz Purr on her birthday gagging her with a Jawbreaker, and accidentally killing her. The three girls freak out, then Courtney, drives them to school and makes the decision for all of them that they are not going to tell anyone, and call in sick for Liz pretending to be her mother. Since Courtney is the leader of the group, she is the one making all the calls. They return Liz to her house after school and put her back in her bed. But Fern Mayo shows up unexpectedly with Liz's homework and see's her dead body on the bed. She is then interrogated by Courtney, and convinced by her with bribery that if she keeps the secret she will make her beautiful, popular, loved and feared. So, Fern is now transformed into Vylette, Courtney's "creation", and Julie is kicked out of the group because she doesn't want anything to do with it, but is too scared to tell because Courtney threatens her reputation, and sais that she'll tell Detective Cruz that they all saw her do it. We then progress as Liz's body is discovered, Fern becomes more and more like Courtney, and Julie sits by and remains helplessly desperate in her own sorrow. So she finally musters up enough courage by the time that Courtney and Marcy ruin Fern's reputation and everyone knows that shes really a "loser". With Fern and Zack on her side she tries to tell the Detective but Courtney has already sealed the evidence by having had sex with a random stranger on Liz's bed before the police found her, telling the Detective she wasn't a virgin, and that she liked strange men. So Dectective Cruz doesn't think Julie knows what she's talking about and Julie is given some of Liz's old things and find a recording on a card of Courtney admitting that she killed Liz and plays it over the speakers at the prom.

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EYE CANDY

There's a demonic undertone to this black comedy that delineates the cruelty of teenagers; and also, their lack of self-understanding, and their commitment to only please themselves. For instance, the scene where hunky Ethan Erickson is waiting for his beloved Rose McGowan to arrive, he tries several different poses on the bed; resorts to stripping to his underwear, and then when she arrives, she baits him with a popsicle. You can tell he's uncomfortable in licking the popsicle, but you can also see the delight in McGowan's eyes in making him suck the popsicle. When she uses this to bait him as to what he would like done, we can see the cruelty in McGowan's character.
The idea of having someone die from choking on a humongous jawbreaker is original, but at the same time, the coolness and nonchalance the girls display in their friend's death is frighteningly realistic ... to a point. Not one to bash teenagers, we do need them after all?, the movie still makes us see all the things we hated about high school.
While McGowan is excellent in her bitch queen role, her destruction at the prom is almost as devastating as Carrie's in the well known horror book/flick. Rebecca Gayheart as the tried and true Julie sinks to McGowan's level in this destruction. Julie Benz is appropriately ditzy as Foxy and Judy Greer as Fern Mayo/Vylette also well cast. Erickson is a perfect choice for the self-absorbed and hedonistic Dane. Chad Christ as Julie's dramatic boyfriend does well, and once again shows how in high school, if you are a drama freak, you're probably homosexual.
The movie falls apart in several places, but does have some good cameos from Pam Grier as Det. Vera Cruz; Jeff Conaway as Foxy's dad, who does a cute Tiffany impersonation; and wastes William Katt and PJ Soles as the victim's parents. (Ironic, they both appeared in the original CARRIE).
Not a classic, but does pack some punch in what it's trying to say, it's just afraid to come out and say it: teenagers are cruel.

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"Jawbreaker" has a good hook but then bait & switches on us

"Jawbreaker" begins with the accidental death of Liz Purr (Charlotte Ayanna) as the result of an encounter with the titular confection. That act is the hook for a young audience to watch this 1999 black comedy but it is really just an excuse for yet another rather lackluster version of the movie where the elite young girls at a high school savage each other (i.e., "Mean Girls" without Tina Fey's wit). The problem with this movie for most people is going to be that it is going to strike them as a case of bait and switch. You think this movie is going to be something along the lines of "Scream" or "Carrie" and it is really more like "She's All That" and "Can't Hardly Wait."

The accidental death sets up three plots lines. First, Queen "B" Courtney Alice Shayne (Rose McGowan) is on a mission to make sure that nothing happens to her position atop the school hierarchy. Second, good girl Julie Freeman (Rebecca Gayheart) feels badly about killing their best friend and rethinks her membership in the elite group. Third, wallflower Fern Mayo (Judy Greer) is transformed by Courtney into the vivacious Vylette, who gets to replace Liz. There is a fourth member of the group, Marcie "Foxy" Fox (Julie Benz), but she is Courtney's loyal stooge and is incapable of independent thought. Meanwhile, Detective Vera Cruz (Pam Grier) is investigating Liz's death and is questioning the girls.

The character of the detective is a pivotal one in the film because she reveals the flaws of this film. I mean, come on, we are talking about Pam Grier playing a hard-nosed detective, and she gets taken for a ride by a bunch of teenage girls who do not break a sweat. There is some confusion as to circumstances of Liz's death, thanks to Courtney's efforts, but the disturbing fact that somebody called the school pretending to be Liz's mother to explain she would be home "sick" seems to get forgotten by the time the police haul in a suspect. These are not the brightest kids to begin with and their effort to cover up their crime only works because in the end this drama has to be played out at the high school prom and not in some precinct house or juvenile court.

McGowan was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for this film and she has a fine time being the cold-hearted queen of the school the story requires. But the more over the top she goes in terms of being so nasty to those she demands bow down before her that you end up wondering what is wrong with them rather than with Courtney. Gayheart does a good job of playing her uncomfortableness with what is going on, thereby grounding the movie from time to time in something resembling reality, while Benz vacillates between frightened fool and sarcastic sidekick. The cast and the performances are good, but not good enough to cover the problems with the basic story and in the end "Jawbreaker" does not finish as strongly as it started.

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What happened to her? What's in her throat?

There are only two reasons that I didn't just glance at this movie and walk off. Reason #1 - It had Rose McGowan (Courtney) in it. Reason #2 - It also had Julie Benz (Foxy Marcie). I like Rose and Julie. But I didn't really like this movie. It started off pretty strong, with 3 popular girls kidnapping their best friend on the morning of her birthday. But the prank turns horribly wrong, and they end up killing the Liz Purr that everyone in school likes. They panick, dump her back in her bed and try to make it look like she was raped. But geeky little Fern finds out about their secret, while delivering Liz's homework to her. So in order for them not to get caught they make a deal with Fern, to make her beautiful & popular. But only if she doesn't tell on them. But Julie (Rebecca Gayheart) feels guilty, and wants to tell the police it was an accident. But it's her word against Courtney, Marcie, and Fern's word. So she tries to find ways to prove them guilty of Liz's death. The movie pretty much goes downhill after that, with the detective questioning them, and the prom scene was the worst.
But overall a 3 star movie.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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