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DVD Jeffie Was Here
 Run time: 110 min Rating: 8.0 Genres: Adventure | Comedy Director: Todd Edwards Writers: Todd Edwards, Peter Bedgood Stars: Ken Marino, Steve Little, Vivian Bang |
| Storyline It’s been a rough couple of years for Alan Mangold, a tightly-wound professor in his 30’s who dreams of a better life beyond his shoebox apartment… if only he could complete his opus, “Orphan Bastard.” When his Nana dies, Alan and his better-half Amanda must post an internet ad at the university to find a student who will share the costs of the emergency cross-country trip. Enter Jeffie: an inflammatory individual who fancies himself a scholar, a poet, and the embodiment of enlightened living. At first, the couple’s travel companion seems to have responded randomly to their ad, but as the trip progresses, it becomes clear that Jeffie’s presence relates to a web of tightly-held secrets between Alan and Amanda. Amidst infidelity, blackmail, run-ins with the law, and a painfully bad demo tape, the ride with Jeffie is unpredictable at every turn and by journey’s end no one is left unchanged. Written by Anonymous |
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| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 2010 (USA) |
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| Box Office Budget: $35,000,000 (estimated) |
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3 comments
I saw this film at the 2010 Phoenix Film Festival, in a packed theater. I liked it very much at the time and got a lot of laughs out of it, partly because I have known a couple of guys in my life who were every bit as weird and delusional as Jeffie. I've also known guys just like Alan, and I thought this film was a wonderful depiction of what might happen if you put those two personalities together on a road trip, where the only real sane voice of reason is Alan's girlfriend, who must feel like she's either a crazy person in a sane world or the only sane person in a crazy one. She keeps the film moving by keeping the two of them from killing each other.
The more intriguing part of this film for me is that it stuck with me. I think about it a lot and still chuckle about certain parts. I'd love to see it again as soon as they get distribution and I can buy a copy. Definitely one of my favorite films of the last two years of the festival.
I think it was very well cast and acted and I have nothing but love for all 3 main players. Don't miss this tasty little comedy!
Had a rare chance to watch "Jeffie". You sit through the whole film in a nice and pleasant atmosphere of unusually soft, kind and originally structured set of jokes. Altghough a passenger character does not actually easily evolve your feeling of sympathy, still the whole set of kindness and romanticism leaves you with a very good aftertaste, and that feeling stays for long. When the film was over I felt the same way I remember pretty good like after another good on-the-road-story movie, which is still my favorite. I mean "Sudeways". I think these two very creative and intelligent works make a nice tradition of sharing sincere warmth with soft jokes on a very well matching background of good music. Don't miss the "United Film Festival" at Cobble Hill Cinemas on Oct.26 at 7pm. Good luck to this very talented work at the festival.
Just saw "Jeffie was Here"– Though the film never strays from its primary genre as "road movie," it shifts from something that feels like a less irritating "curb your enthusiasm" into an honest to goodness intelligent romance. The skill and honesty with which the film "becomes" one from the other is what's makes Todd Edward's film interesting, and not merely good.
His handling of the main characters is equally engaging, and…I'll say it again, interesting. His leading man, Alan, has some astonishingly dumb moments–like missing the fact his significant other is pregnant even after she's all but told him–and yet still have us believe he is a college professor and otherwise an intelligent fellow. Giving smart people dumb moments; though the mainstay of farce, can be nearly impossible when a film strives to keep its comic antics honest and true. Edwards manages this by making Alan a man who lives almost entirely in his past or future–and never really being "present" in the now. Or as the film puts it; "he always keeps the back door open and the motor running." We get that he's not dumb, he's just not fully present—which is the catalyst for "Enthusiasm" to become "romance." Stylistically, I enjoyed the use of jump cuts in key scenes. It creates a feeling of emotional disjuncture in the moment to moment work of the mise-en-scene; structurally reinforcing the thematic idea that Alan really isn't in control of what's happen around him.
Jeffie is entertaining and touching (So if you get a chance–hit your local film festival and give it a see, well worth your time!