Jaded (2000)

hyped garbage

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

"Jaded" should not be considered as en erotic thriller because the sex scenes are not for viewing pleasure unlike movies like "Indecent Behavior" or "Friend Of The Family". "Jaded" is not an easy watch as it's story is difficult to conceive and it's not that common in society. From the beginning of the movie, with the first scene, you expect more strong scenes. The raping scene wasn't (in my opinion) a well created scene. I think that the director didn't use proper camera techniques overall in the movie. That's why it looks sometimes dull and becomes boring almost near the end.The performances are extremely good from all the five female characters. These women gave strong, intense, but believable performances that demonstrate the actresses' dramatic abilities. The legal concepts helped a lot to understand the plot's difficulty because the legal term of sodomy is different from a simple raping. From the point of view of Meg's defense, sodomy needs to be penalized as a raping (a huge crime grade B) although it's a different crime. Pat and Alex's defense claims that Meg enjoyed and asked for it. This is where the movie turns interesting to see who is trying to tell the truth. The only thing for sure is that the sex scene fits into a legal definition of a crime. Watch "Jaded" if you like legal issues that aren't very common in your society. If not, give it a try because it's a very good and strong drama.

"Jaded" takes on the complex question of abuse: the perpetrators and the victims. In lesser hands it would have degenerated into an erotic thriller made for direct-to-video. This director, however, has managed to pull off a textured multi-layered study with a decidedly different point of view.Given the fact that the director/writer is a woman and the main detective and D.A. are also women, this could have turned into a very anti-male film. It is not. To be a sexual predator IS gender neutral. The nudity of this film is not erotic. The rape is brutal not sexual. We are looking at victims and not titillation.The gifted cast rings true. For a film that is so little known, I was surprised at the quality of the performances. They are good. Carla Gugino and Rya Kihlstedt are incredible.Somehow, this film got lost. Perhaps it is too smart for its own good. It is a "should see". Highly recommend. A thinking person's sexual thriller.

Clearly a low-budget movie with minimal style. Since this is the case, one would hope for an abundance of substance to overcome to obvious lact of style. Sadly, this isn't the case. While the premise of the movie is interesting and deserves to be discussed (re: men are not the only ones capable of hurting another human being, all it takes is the right circumstances and the right (or wrong, actually) frame of mine for a heinous crime to be commited), but a leisurely-paced direction left a lot to be desired. Acting by all concern is one-note and not effective, though Gugino is possibly a standout (though not by much). This truly feels like a low-budget production, but that in itself is not an excuse for making a poor movie. I cannot stress enough that while the movie's pace is laborious (much to its detriment), this is not a bad thing, since Kubrick's movies are known for their slow pace. Yet, when the pacing is this laborious and what's happening onscreen is ineffective, this leaves the viewer to wonder what's on the other channel, which happens to me a few times.

The casting by Lina Todd and Yolanda Geralds and costumes by Laura Jean Shannon are pretty fantastic. As the directorial debut of Caryn Krooth, it lacks the punch one might hope for, but it has its strengths. The now-popular Carla Gugino was a bit plump at the time, but still shows some sass. Chris McDonald steals the show - two straw hats up - way up!