Many movies have been made featuring high school students and showing some aspect of high school life. Some of those movies have been more realistic and done better than others. Jawbreaker had a rather disturbing plot that I thought still managed to make an entertaining movie.
Elizabeth Purr was one of the most popular girls at school and she was also well liked by just about everyone. On the morning of her birthday, her three friends Courtney Shayne, Julie Freeman, and Marcie Fox decided to “kidnap” Liz. Things went horribly wrong when Courtney put a jawbreaker into Liz’s mouth which she ultimately choked to death on. Courtney immediately started plotting how to cover up what happened. The geeky Fern Mayo stumbled into what happened and Courtney promised to make Fern popular if she kept her mouth shut.
Courtney transformed Fern into Vylette, who became very popular in no time. Julie had a falling out with Courtney and Marcie because she wanted to go to the police to tell what really happened. Courtney was only concerned with protecting herself and she used threats to keep Julie quiet. Courtney was willing to do anything to cover up the truth.
I thought that Jawbreaker had an interesting plot that was unique. I have heard of people pretending to kidnap friends in fun before. I personally don’t think that would be that fun. That aspect of the movie did seem realistic since I have heard of it being done even though it seems kind of strange to me. I also thought that some of what happened after Liz’s death was also unique. The movie did keep my interest even though the plot was fairly simple.
I have seen several movies that have dealt with high school students that were not like Jawbreaker in any way. Certain things connected to high school that were featured in the movie, like how there are different groups of students who didn’t like each other, were realistic even though some other things were rather extreme. Some of the other high school movies have had some nasty characters, but none of them can hold a candle to how nasty and downright evil Courtney was. There will always be popular girls who feel they are better than everyone and look down on others. Courtney took that to a whole new level with the things she did. She was so twisted that she wasn’t really a realistic character, but it did work for the movie.
There wasn’t much in the way of mystery to the plot of Jawbreaker. Liz died within the first few minutes and it was very clear how and why that happened. Courtney immediately started planning how to deal with the situation and how to protect herself. Really the only question left was if the truth would come out. Once Liz’s body was discovered, there was a police investigation by detective Vera Cruz into what had happened. Vera questioned different people about Liz, including Julie, Marcie and Courtney. Vera’s investigation did add to the mystery. I wasn’t sure how things would work out even though I didn’t feel like there were really any surprises. I didn’t think there was any suspense in the movie either, but it was still interesting. I think the movie is considered a black comedy and it certainly has the right tone for that type of movie. I didn’t think it was that funny though since only a few things made me laugh. People in the mood for a really funny movie should pick something else.
Even though the main characters were high school students, Jawbreaker did have some sexual situations. Courtney was sexually active and she was willing to do some wild things. She was shown with a high school boy doing some unique things. Courtney was willing to do some extreme things sexually and I think it was only partially because she thought it would help make sure someone else was blamed for what happened to Liz. There weren’t any actual sex scenes, but enough was shown to make it very clear what Courtney was up to. Those things, along with a few sexual discussions helped to get the movie an R rating. The swearing that some characters did also contributed to the rating.
Liz really wasn’t shown, so the viewers didn’t get a chance to know her. Her death was the main focus of the movie but very little was known about her. From what was said about her by other characters, she was considered perfect and was liked by everyone. With how wonderful Liz was supposed to have been, it did make me wonder why she would be friends with Courtney. Charlotte Roldan really didn’t have anything to do as Liz.
Courtney like to boss everyone around and she thought she ruled the school. She was very popular and she treated most everyone else like dirt under her shoes. She was twisted and evil and willing to do horrible things. She was very nasty and not likable in any way. Rose McGowan did a good job with the part. Marcie was basically Courtney’s puppet and did everything she told her to do. It didn’t seem like Marcie could think for herself. She wasn’t very bright. Julie Benz was fine in the part.
Julie was the nicest of the three and I did wonder why she would hang around Courtney. Julie had been closest to Liz and was genuinely upset about her death. Julie wanted to do the right thing, but she was intimidated by Courtney. Rebecca Gayheart was fine in the part. Fern was a shy, timid, unpopular girl before Courtney transformed her into Vylette. She ate up the attention and quickly adjusted to being popular. She wasn’t really bad. Her desire to fit in allowed Courtney to manipulate her. Judy Greer did a good job with the part. Carol Kane turned up in a few scenes as Ms. Sherwood and Pam Grier did fine as Vera.
Main Cast
Julie Benz - Marcie Rebecca Gayheart - Julie Judy Greer - Fern/Vylette Pam Grier - Vera Cruz Carole Kane - Ms. Sherwood Rose McGowan - Courtney Charlotte Roldan - Liz Purr
Darren Stein - Director
DVD Information
I first saw Jawbreaker when I rented the DVD several years ago. I don’t remember there being any extras that I was interested in checking out. The movie has been on HBO recently and I think I remember seeing an edited version on another channel.
Jawbreaker had an interesting and rather unique plot that made for an entertaining movie overall. It wasn’t horrible, but I have seen better teen movies. Fans of the cast may enjoy the movie.
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