The Jesus Rolls: First Big Lebowski spin-off ‘sequel’ reviews call film ‘fluffy indie’
New film has been approved by the Coen brothers
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Your support makes all the difference.The first reviews of the spin-off “sequel” to Coen brothers classic The Big Lebowski are in.
John Turturro has brought back his character Jesus Quintana for new comedy The Jesus Rolls, which begins with him getting out of prison after being framed as a paedophile.
The film also stars Audrey Tautou, Bobby Cannavale, Susan Sarandon, Jon Hamm, Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson and, in what is being described as the film’s zaniest performance, Christopher Walken.
Set to be released in 2020, it follows a trio of misfits whose sexually charged dynamic evolves into a surprising love story as their spontaneous and flippant attitude towards the past or future backfires time and again, even as they inadvertently perform good deeds.
When they make enemies with a gun-toting hairdresser, their journey becomes one of constant escape from the law, from society and from the hairdresser, all while the bonds of their outsider family strengthen.
The Jesus Rolls – inspired by Bertrand Blier’s 1974 French film of the same name – has been approved by Joel and Ethan Coen.
After years of reports about the film, Turturro recently told The Independent that he’s completed an edit he’s happy with – and he unveiled the final product at the 2019 Rome Film Festival this week.
You can read the first reviews of the film below.
“With his signature strut, hairnet-covered cornrows, purple-painted pinky nail and disarmingly high voice, Jesus Quintana may seem like a big joke to some (he was played that way in The Big Lebowski), but Turturro believes in him as a real, complex human being. With that in mind, the writer-director-star picks and chooses situations from Blier’s controversial novel Les Valseuses to fuel this freewheeling joyride, about a pair of long-haired rabble-rousers who steal cars, stir up trouble and harass women at every stop.”
“Turturro’s Jesus Quintana is certainly the best thing in this fluffy indie, and it’s a pity he doesn’t have a more meaningful trajectory. He gets an automatic laugh of appreciation posing in profile with his trademark purple pinkie nail, which is now supplemented by several gold rings and long braided hair. But these details are forgotten in the chain of repetitive joyrides in stolen muscle cars.”
No other Big Lebowski characters are expected to show up in the film despite Jeff Bridges admitting he’d be up for playing “a little cameo” as The Dude in the future.
The Jesus Rolls will be released in 2020.
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