The Jesus Rolls

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The Jesus Rolls
A purple bowling ball, wearing a hairnet
Official poster
Directed byJohn Turturro
Screenplay byJohn Turturro
Based onGoing Places
by Bertrand Blier
The Big Lebowski
by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Produced bySidney Kimmel
Robert Salerno
Paul-Dominique Vacharasinthu
John Penotti
Fernando Sulichin
Starring
CinematographyFrederick Elmes
Edited bySimona Paggi
Music byÉmilie Simon
Production
companies
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
New Element
Tribus P Films[1]
Distributed byScreen Media Films[2]
Release dates
  • October 16, 2019 (2019-10-16) (RFF)
  • February 28, 2020 (2020-02-28) (United States)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4.5 million[3]
Box office$64,648[4]

The Jesus Rolls is a 2019 American crime comedy film written by, directed by, and starring John Turturro. It doubles as a remake of the 1974 French film Going Places by Bertrand Blier, and as a spin-off to the 1998 cult film The Big Lebowski by the Coen brothers. Turturro reprises his Lebowski role of Jesus Quintana.

It was filmed in 2016 and premiered at the Rome Film Festival on October 16, 2019. It was released on February 28, 2020, by Screen Media Films. It was a box office bomb and received generally negative reviews from critics.

Plot[edit]

As Jesus Quintana is released from prison and is reminded by the warden that one more strike will get him locked up for good, he is also thanked for winning a bowling tournament for the prison.

Jesus's friend Petey picks him up and they go into town. Finding a classic muscle car, they steal it and drive to his mother's. She is having sex with a man who Quintana kicks out. He gives her some money and they have dinner. When Petey and Quintana return the car to where it was parked, the owner confronts them with a gun. His girlfriend Marie recognizes Quintana. Petey runs away, the owner shoots him in the testicles, so Quintana beats him up.

Petey, Quintana, and Marie take off in the car and exchange it at a chop shop. Quintana takes Petey to a doctor to get the bullet fragment extracted. After they learn it only pierced the scrotum, they rob him. Marie stays behind and cuts the chop shop mechanic's hair. Petey and Quintana return and have him damage the muscle car's brakes and structural integrity. The trio then take off in the other car.

Stopping at a restaurant, Petey and Quintana take off upon seeing cops. They steal two bicycles and are chased by farmers. Marie leaves the restaurant and is chased for pulling a runner. Petey and Quintana steal another car, drive to train tracks and board a train. Getting off, they watch a woman breast feed her infant in a train station. Marie finds them there and angrily confronts them for deserting her, then the trio board another one.

They find a house where Quintana washes Petey's wound. Marie tells them that the owner of the car, Paul has sold it. Petey has sex with Marie while Quintana watches, cheering them on. Marie explains that she has had sex with thousands of people. When they break into Paul's beauty salon and steal the money, Marie freaks out and attacks them. They tie her up and leave her there. The pair go bowling, where Quintana dances with a woman, who yells at him and leaves.

The pair pick up recently released inmate Jean from a woman's prison, and they take her to buy clothes. At a restaurant on the beach, Jean talks to the owner about her menstrual cycle. Then they head to a motel and Petey and Quintana have sex with Jean who then shoots and kills herself. The pair flee and go back to the house from earlier, where Marie is waiting.

They discover that Jean's son, Jack is getting out of prison the next day, so Petey and Quintana pick him up. The three go to a cabin in the woods where Marie is waiting, and have breakfast. Jack has sex with Marie, while Quintana and Petey go fishing.

The four of them go to rob a corrections officer Jack knows, who he shoots and has nothing, and then hovers outside while the other three flee. They steal another car and leave the city. At a gas station, Petey and Quintana read in a newspaper, that they are wanted in the shooting of the officer. They steal a smart car and eventually pull over for Marie to pee by a lake. At the side of the road is a muscle car that belongs to people boating there.

Quintana, Petey, and Marie steal the car, leaving the smart car behind. Later, it loses control as the foundation comes loose, the brakes jam and they crash. After which they realize it was Paul's car from earlier with a new paint and body job. It crashed due to the damage that was inflicted on it in the chop shop. So, they start to hitchhike.

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

The Coen brothers, who wrote, directed, and produced The Big Lebowski, stated on several occasions that they would never make a Lebowski sequel.[7] However, John Turturro expressed keen interest in reprising his role as Jesus at least since 2002.[8][9][10] Most of the development of the Jesus character came from Turturro as an actor, which led the Coens to give him a bigger place in the film. In 2014, Turturro announced that he had requested permission from the Coens to use the character.[11]

In August 2016, it was announced that Turturro had been granted the right to use the character of Jesus by the Coens (who were not involved in the production), and had already started filming the spin-off, which he wrote and directed. Filming locations included New York City and Los Angeles.[5] The film was a remake of the 1974 French film Going Places directed by Bertrand Blier, which was based on Blier's own novel Les valseuses.[12][5] The working titles were 100 Minutes with Jesus and then Going Places.[1] The film was completed in 2017 and with its acquisition by Screen Media Films, the title was changed to The Jesus Rolls.[2]

The film was produced by Sidney Kimmel, John Penotti, Fernando Sulichin, Paul-Dominique Vacharsinthu, and Robert Salerno.[13]

Release[edit]

Its world premiere was at the Rome Film Festival on October 16, 2019.[14] It was theatrically released in Italy on October 17, 2019,[15][2] and in the United States on February 28, 2020, by Screen Media Films.[2][16]

Reception[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 20%, based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The Jesus Rolls limply into the gutter in its misguided attempt to belatedly explore the saga of a supporting character better left on the margins."[17] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[18]

Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Though Turturro turned this small part into a memorable character for the Coens, Quintana is not so reliably funny here, especially headlining a whole film of very intermittent charm."[19] Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "In the end, the project doesn't really work. The Coen brothers have a touch for the absurd, and a gift for dialogue, that's lacking here, and without those two qualities, Jesus wears out his welcome relatively early in the journey."[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Winfrey, Graham (August 22, 2016). "'Big Lebowski' Spinoff 'Going Places': First Photo of John Turturro as Jesus Revealed". IndieWire. Archived from the original on August 25, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d Hipes, Patrick (March 13, 2020). "The Jesus Rolls". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  3. ^ "FILM TAX CREDIT – Quarterly Report - Calendar Year 2018: First Quarter" (PDF). New York State: 7. March 31, 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  4. ^ "Come and See (1985)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Schmitz, Greg (August 19, 2016). "Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly Reunite to Play Holmes and Watson, plus More Movie News". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  6. ^ Gettell, Oliver (August 18, 2016). "John Turturro's sex farce Going Places gets rolling in New York". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on August 25, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  7. ^ Setoodeh, Ramin (February 3, 2016). "The Coen Brothers Will Never Make a Sequel to 'The Big Lebowski'". Variety. Archived from the original on September 5, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  8. ^ "The Greatest Film of All Time' 'Nobody Fs With Da Jesus!' The Feature!!!". Ain't It Cool News. November 11, 2002. Archived from the original on October 13, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  9. ^ O'Connell, Sean (June 29, 2011). "John Turturro Says He'd Love To Do A Big Lebowski Spin-Off With Jesus Quintana". Cinema Blend. Archived from the original on October 3, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  10. ^ O'Neal, Sean (June 28, 2011). "Random Roles: John Turturro". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  11. ^ Lyman, Eric J. (June 22, 2014). "Taormina Fest Honors John Turturro, Fox's Jim Gianopulos on Final Day". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 25, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  12. ^ McNary, Dave (August 18, 2016). "John Turturro in Production on 'Big Lebowski' Spinoff 'Going Places'". Variety. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  13. ^ Macnab, Geoffrey. "Blue Finch buys 'Big Lebowski' spin-off 'The Jesus Rolls' for the UK (exclusive)". ScreenDaily. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  14. ^ Anderson, Ariston (October 4, 2019). "Rome Film Fest to Premiere John Turturro's Big Lebowski Spinoff 'The Jesus Rolls'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 6, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  15. ^ "The Jesus Rolls: Svelata La Data D'Uscita Italiana del Sequal de il Grande Lebowski". Paramount Network (in Italian). September 11, 2019. Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  16. ^ "The Jesus Rolls". IFC Center. Archived from the original on January 15, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  17. ^ "The Jesus Rolls (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  18. ^ "The Jesus Rolls". Metacritic. CBS. Archived from the original on 5 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  19. ^ Young, Deborah (17 October 2019). "'The Jesus Rolls': Film Review | Rome 2019". The Hollywood Reporter.
  20. ^ Debruge, Peter (17 October 2019). "Rome Film Review: 'The Jesus Rolls'". Variety.

External links[edit]

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