Jam (2006)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

Craig Serling’s Jam (2006) wants to be an alternate attempt to be like Paul Haggis’ commercial and critical hit Crash, but even with a cast that includes Marianne Jean-Baptiste, William Forsythe, Jonathan Silverman, Gina Torres, Tess Harper and Alex Rocco, this does not even come close.

 

Is it the sloppy writing by Serling and Nicole Lonner?  Is it not making the best of about 90 minutes of screen time?  Is it a slight smugness in thinking having a big diverse cast equal realism?  This is one of the saddest of such recent films, a cycle which already plays like Robert Altman lite.  However, starting this one with a car accident was a very bad idea and the whole project never recovers.  Only for the ultra-curious.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is on the detail-challenged side, with limited depth and color that is a bit off throughout.  Worse is the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes, badly recorded, mixed and often offers problems with dialogue.  Extras include DVD-ROM accessible script, deleted scenes, trailer, an audio commentary and making of featurette.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo