Josh Jarman
Review by Adam Weeks
Josh Jarman is the tale of a playwright, the titular
character of Josh, played by Australian actor Marcus Graham,
who struggles to find a wide audience for his plays.
Despite everyone around him seeming to love his writing,
he longs for a shot at the big time, opening in a big theatre,
receiving a standing ovation at the end of the performance,
and becoming as important and notable as his favourite author,
Harold Stalinger.
Josh gets his big opportunity when he meets Sasha (Kestie
Morassi), and after winding up in bed with her, discovers
her father is none other than big shot producer, Stan Billows
(Kym Gyngell), who, as long as he continues to date his daughter,
agrees to put all of his resources behind Josh’s new
play.
In the meantime, Josh struggles with his new found feelings
for next door neighbour, Maxine (Daniella Farinacci), and
finds out his room mate Russ (Damien Richardson) is getting
involved in some interesting money making ventures.
But as the powers that be begin to exert their influence
over Josh’s life, the script, the casting and seemingly
everything else involved, Josh begins to wonder if the fame
he is looking for is all that it is cracked up to be.
I was very surprised by Josh Jarman to be completely
honest. I had heard mixed reviews leading up to my viewing,
but I found it to be a very easy film to watch - and like.
The cast all take on solid work with their parts, with Marcus
Graham seemingly invoking the nerdiest, most foppish version
of Hugh Grant that anyone could muster, and not surprisingly
(given his impressive work in the past), he manages to pull
off a dangerous choice in a very classy way.
Kestie Morassi (Wolf Creek) puts in a suitably sexy
performance as the borderline nymphomaniac Sasha, Daniella
Farinacci (pictured: right) maintains a sweet back and forth
with Marcus throughout the run time, and has one of the funniest
(and potentially embarrassing) afflictions seen in quite a
while.
Kym Gyngell on the other hand, while doing a sound job technically
with the part of uber-producer Stan, feels a little off to
me, and I can’t help coming away with the feeling that
maybe someone along the lines of a Sam Neill could have perhaps
done more with the part. Either that, or I can’t get
the good old days of 'The Comedy Company' out of my head enough
to really give him a shot in the part.
The standout, and genuine star of the film however, is Damien
Richardson as the down and out actor/room mate. Damien is
just an absolute class act in this, and is responsible for
a brilliant line towards the end of the movie that had me
cracking up. Someone should definitely get this guy in their
next big comedy, because he is fantastic in Josh.
As I’ve said, Josh Jarman is a very easy movie
to like, and aside from slightly distracting musical choices
throughout the first half hour or so, it plays pretty smoothly
from beginning to end.
It’s no strain to see the ending coming from a mile
off, but sometimes a trip to the cinema doesn’t need
to result in an intellectual discussion of the mechanics of
it all afterwards, but rather the fact that you sat down and
watched a decent movie.
Josh Jarman fits the bill very well.
4 out of 5
Josh Jarman
Australian release: Thursday the 10th of November, 2005
Cast: Marcus Graham, Kestie Morassi, Damien Richardson,
Daniela Farinacci, Kim Gyngell.
Director: Pip Mushin.
Website: Click
here.
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