Lonesome Jim
IFC Films | Release Date: March 24, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
15
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Buscemi does not act in Lonesome Jim, but his sly humor and keen eye for nuance resonate in every frame. I can't recall having a better time at a movie about depression. Read full review
75
PremiereJessica Letkemann
With a cast of well-chosen actors, a good script, and an eye for making ordinary suburban scenes visually heartbreaking, director Steve Buscemi's small story of failure, depression-and ultimately, love-in one Indiana town rings painfully true-to-life. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
In sad-sack movies there is often a helpful woman around to help the despairing heroes. In "Garden State," it was Natalie Portman; in "Elizabethtown," Kirsten Dunst. Both were salvation angels, but Tyler has a gentle approach to this kind of role that is perfect for the tone of Lonesome Jim. Read full review
70
Film ThreatDon R. Lewis
Affleck is dead on as the hapless Jim but the film is nearly stolen from him by Mark Boone Jr. who plays Jim's drug induced Uncle Evil. Kevin Corrigan is also great as Jim's brother Tim. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDuane Byrge
Under Buscemi's overall smart direction, the acting is terrific. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJan Stuart
If Lonesome Jim feels like it's perpetually on the verge of evaporating, Buscemi brings to the material the boundless empathy for misfits and screw-ups he displayed in "Trees Lounge." Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverMelissa Levine
Bleak, minimal, bone-dry and hilarious, it creates a rich and layered world from deft strokes of dialogue and action. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Affleck's gloomy, one-note performance exacerbates the problem, but the stellar supporting cast helps compensate. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
As a director, Buscemi is drier than he is as a performer: more quietly funny, less intense and sometimes weirdly compassionate. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Humor in 'Jim' is a little too dry. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis Harvey
There's a slightness to the mildly eccentric material here that leaves the whole enterprise in danger of fluttering away. Read full review
60
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The script is adroit: It doesn't force the humor, and it steadily keeps track of Jim's growing maturity. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Mostly a snooze. Maybe if Buscemi himself had starred in it things would have turned out better. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Buscemi shoots with a cloudy, melancholic air that suits the material and does nothing to prettify the setting. But you can't sense any of the surprising energy or subversive wit that characterizes his best performances. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Lonesome Jim has the import of a deliberately squelched sitcom, or a home movie that's poisoned by unhappiness but shown anyway for stray laughs. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
It finds some fine comedic moments when it stops focusing on Affleck's never-ending angst and starts exploring small-town oddness. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Buscemi's latest, Lonesome Jim, written by James C. Strouse, asks you to spend 91 minutes with a 30-year-old slacker and would-be writer who has the DNA of a sloth. "Slowsome Jim" is more like it. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
One of those indie excursions to Loserville that lasts an hour and a half but feels longer than "Roots." Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
At one point screenwriter James C. Strouse name-checks the brilliant Richard Yates, whose fiction similiarly perches between grim humor and utter despair, but the movie's hip detachment is a far cry from the unruly passions of Yates's chronic losers. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Well-intentioned but lifeless. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
It doesn't leave you much to hold on to in a comedy about apathy that can't even muster the energy to care. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The narrative of Lonesome Jim pokes about aimlessly, trying to mine nuggets of amusement. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Buscemi is stymied here by the inertia of his material. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Mr. Buscemi wrote and starred in the small gem of a movie ("Trees Lounge"), which had more psychological nuance than this emotionally cauterized slice of minimalist malaise. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
First-time screenwriter James C. Strouse (in whose hometown the film was shot) provides so few clues to the source of Jim's malaise, or that of his entire sad-sack family, that the movie remains rudderless and not the least bit believable. Read full review
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