Stella Meghie offers up a cute tale in Jean of the Joneses, a story about a 20 something woman who is losing control of her life and gets perspective after her estranged grandfather dies in front of her.
We met Jean as she is getting dumped by her boyfriend. She's in a bad place as she is now temporarily homeless and in danger of losing her book contract as she's spent her advance money on clothes while being unable to write a world. When she answers the door to her grandmother's house and a strange man asks for her grandmother before dying none of her aunts will tell her who the man is. It's only after rifling through his belongings that she finds out he was her estranged grandfather. And while the rest of her family are hell-bent on pretending he doesn't exist, Jean sets out to uncover where he was all those years and why he appeared on her grandmother's door step.
The acting for this is great and the script is solid, if a little conventional. You can almost feel how this was developed in writing labs and workshops, it neatly follows very particular beats. This isn't a bad thing, it leads for easy, digestible viewing. This is the kind of movie where everything is wrapped up in a neat bow by the end and even if we know where we're going it's a fun and enjoyable ride getting there.
We met Jean as she is getting dumped by her boyfriend. She's in a bad place as she is now temporarily homeless and in danger of losing her book contract as she's spent her advance money on clothes while being unable to write a world. When she answers the door to her grandmother's house and a strange man asks for her grandmother before dying none of her aunts will tell her who the man is. It's only after rifling through his belongings that she finds out he was her estranged grandfather. And while the rest of her family are hell-bent on pretending he doesn't exist, Jean sets out to uncover where he was all those years and why he appeared on her grandmother's door step.
The acting for this is great and the script is solid, if a little conventional. You can almost feel how this was developed in writing labs and workshops, it neatly follows very particular beats. This isn't a bad thing, it leads for easy, digestible viewing. This is the kind of movie where everything is wrapped up in a neat bow by the end and even if we know where we're going it's a fun and enjoyable ride getting there.