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Parents' Guide to

The Jacket

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Smart thriller is for mature older teens only.

Movie R 2005 102 minutes
The Jacket Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 16+

Based on 1 parent review

MaxDiedra
MaxDiedra Adult
January 1, 2021
age 16+

A different kind of film

This is a good alternative film if you are tired of the stock standard films that come out of Hollywood and don't want to travel too far back in time to get a good film fix. It is just weird. It is kind of quirky like eternal Sunshine of the spotless Mind mixed with Being John Malkovich- It's not so much about meaning sometimes as it is about imagination and what can be beautiful. The film also has some intense themes like Brody's horrid treatment in a mental facility and mistreatment by people in general. It was quite underrated at the time- too underated it you ask me. The performances delivered by all the actors are on point (Brody, Knightly and Craig stand out to me), the score by Brian Eno is beautiful and the filmography is great. The film itself has some really touching moments. This is not the film for you if you can't deal with somewhat complicated plotlines. If this review sounds weird that's exactly what the film is like so good, enjoy it.
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What's the Story?

After a night he can't recall, Gulf War veteran Jack (Adrien Brody) is on trial for killing a policeman. He's found not guilty by reason of insanity and sentenced to a mental hospital. Drugged and subjected to a horrifying test treatment, Jack begins to grope toward a memory of what really happened the night the policeman was killed. Diagnosed with "possibly acute retrograde psycho-suppression," Jack begins to hallucinate (however, the exact nature of his "visions" aren't clear). Soulless Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson) is performing the tests on Jack, even though past efforts had disastrous results and his junior colleague Dr. Lorenson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) urges him to stop. Jack comes to want more of the treatment because it is his escape, whether real or imagined. And a waitress named Jackie, who appears in Jack's visions, seems to be the key to solve a mystery more pressing than the murder of the policeman.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (3 ):

THE JACKET is a smart thriller, with above-average heft and imagination in the story, the structure, and especially in the striking visuals. Oscar-winner Brody makes Jack capture our loyalty and makes us believe that he could capture the loyalty of the strong but damaged Jackie. Keira Knightly delivers not just an American accent, but an impressively specific one, an accent that helps convey the character. The movie goes a bit off the rails as it pulls everything together at the end, especially with regard to the medical judgment of Dr. Lorenson, but by then your heart is so much on the side of the characters that it hardly matters.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how we can test what we think we know to determine what is real. Have you ever had a strong memory of something that happened to you and then realized it was from a movie or photograph? How do we know which experiments to allow, understanding that that some will fail and leave the subjects worse off than they were?

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