‘Jump, Darling’ Review: Drag Performer Ascends, Grandma Exits in One of Cloris Leachman’s Last Turns
Not even the final feature for recently-deceased Cloris Leachman (she put two more in the can before passing this January at age 94), “Jump, Darling” nonetheless is primarily of interest for that veteran performer’s participation. Otherwise, writer-director Phil Connell’s debut feature treads ground similar to last year’s “Stage Mother,” whose somewhat retro emphasis on lip-synching drag performance as a vehicle for self-realization likewise recalled a much earlier dramedy from Canada, “Outrageous!”
If that theme was groundbreaking 44 years ago, it seems rather quaint now, and “Jump” doesn’t help its case by centering on a troubled young protagonist whose issues are as murky as their apparent solution is simplistic. However, playing his senile yet still tart-tongued grandmother, Leachman lends the film a certain unforced gravitas that provides compensational rewards. Those looking for familiar seriocomic beats in a modest but polished LGBTQ-targeted indie will find this pleasant enough. Currently playing gay festivals,...
If that theme was groundbreaking 44 years ago, it seems rather quaint now, and “Jump” doesn’t help its case by centering on a troubled young protagonist whose issues are as murky as their apparent solution is simplistic. However, playing his senile yet still tart-tongued grandmother, Leachman lends the film a certain unforced gravitas that provides compensational rewards. Those looking for familiar seriocomic beats in a modest but polished LGBTQ-targeted indie will find this pleasant enough. Currently playing gay festivals,...
- 8/15/2021
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
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