Irish Jam!

Doc, Madame E and I sat down to watch this movie last night with the full intentions of enjoying some pure cheese. I had seen this title in Hollywood video a month or so ago and immediately knew I must see it. I am a huge fan of the B movie and I knew this one fit nicely into that category. However, I was unable to convince Doc to rent it the first time I knew it existed. But last night, he wasn't there and I grabbed it with the glee a Leprechaun must feel when he comes upon the next chump in line.

Just for the sake of context, let me give you the plotline. A poor village in Ireland is up to its eyeballs in debt. The only thing they own free and clear and is not already in the hands of a villainous English Lord is their pub, Finnigans. So, they decide to hold a poetry contest to raise the money and offer the pub to the winner. That way, the villainous English Lord will be unable to take it from them in payment for their debts and the pub will never fall into his manicured hands.

The winning poem, it turns out, was "written" by our hero, Jimmy Jam, a flim flam artist on the run from a crazy lady he left at the alter, creditors and scorned thugs who were cheated by him in a drug deal. He escapes them all thinking he had won a pub on and island not a pub in Ireland. All were surprised when he arrived, he by the lack of babes and sunshine, they by the likes of this colorful character.

We all agreed that this movie was a good premise. Afterall, fish out of water stories are usually good stories. However, in its execution, it failed terribly. All of the interesting stuff such as he and the villagers getting to know and like each other, gets stuck in a montage. We see them working together, playing together and drinking together, all to the tune of some hokey Irish pop. What we do get instead is lots of focus on Jimmy Jam's open mic night, where he does various impressions of the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. and Bill Cosby.

As we were watching, we also mourned that fact that we didn't see nearly enough of the jilted bride. A large black woman (Monique an uncredited but genius part of the film), in full bridal regalia and pissed. The scene where she finds him in his apartment and chases him around is one of the finest three minutes of comedy I've seen in a long time. He's just gotten out of the tub and is in a towel when she crashes the door down. He runs into the bathroom and tries to escape out the window. She wrestels and wrangles him around, even trying to bite him on the ankles before he shuffles loose from her and she falls into the still-full tub. You really should see it if just for that scene alone.

But the problem with the movie is that it is trying too hard to be too much. Is it a comedy? Is it a solidarity piece about the similar plight of the Irish and Black Americans? Is it a love story between an urban hip hopper and a lovely Irish crooner woman with Maureen O'Hara's right hook? Is it a drama about the land rights of the poor in Ireland? Who knows?

But Madame E and I (Doc bailed before the beginning of the last act) agreed that it could have been a wonderful movie, if we had gotten our hands on it. We would have lost all of the stand-up schtick Eddie Griffin's (writer and producer) ego wouldn't let go of. We would have had more bridezilla. Much more. We would have lost the too precious Kathleen, a girl whose picture could be on every travel brochure for Ireland. You know the ones: pale skin, blue eyes, ruddy cheeks, black hair. Get this: she was mute in the story and our hero causes her to speak by the end. Finger licking cheese extrodinare. We would have taken the story out of montage and fleshed it out and really examined the enculturation of Jimmy Jam into the community of Bollywood.

I think with the above changes this movie could have gone somewhere. It was too nervous to decide what it wanted to be. I really like Eddie Griffin. I think he's a funny guy. He's got all the charm of Flav-O-Flav and none of the baggage. I think he's a smart guy, but he got way too sentimental in this movie. He could have used all the wasted time to let us see how things happened instead of telling us what happened later. The whole problem of the village and its debt was solved offscreen. Jimmy Jam filled in the village, the bad guys and the audience via video confrencing!!! This violates Roger Eberts movie rules: don't let the action be us watching a guy using a computer. Bad Eddie!

I recommend to anyone writing a screenplay to read Roger Ebert's book: I Hated, Hated, Hated, This Movie first. Because making a good movie depends more on what you shouldn't do rather than what you should do. I call to every would-be screenwriter: Learn from other people's mistakes rather than study the masters. For if you study the masters, you will only be a pale copy of the original. At least knowing what to avoid, you can open yourself up to innovation and creative and original ideas.

As I step off my soap box, I will leave you with this recommendation: See this movie for the bridzilla action and the lovely Irishy scenary. Laugh yourself silly at the movie's misplaced earnestness. And savor the feeling of superiority it will bring you.