Jack and Jill vs. The World

2008
5.5| 1h29m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 04 April 2008 Released
Producted By: Myriad Pictures
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.jackandjillvstheworld.com/
Info

Jack and Jill's Manifesto of Rules to Live By Rule 1 Be honest Rule 2 Believe in fairy tales Rule 3 Accept time as our friend Rule 4 Make sure the nooky is good Rule 5 Promote beauty. Wage a sustained campaign against ugliness Rule 6 Abandon the pursuit of happiness and its false promise Rule 7 Show compassion, except to pirates Rule 8 Less TV Rule 9 Always be willing to admit when you're wrong

Genre

Comedy, Romance

Watch Online

Jack and Jill vs. The World (2008) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Vanessa Parise

Production Companies

Myriad Pictures

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial
Watch Now
Jack and Jill vs. The World Videos and Images
View All

Jack and Jill vs. The World Audience Reviews

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
CommentsXp Best movie ever!
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
MBunge I'm usually not a stickler for continuity errors or anachronisms in a film. Making a motion picture is a very complicated beast and you can't get all that upset if a few minor mistakes creep in. A line has to be drawn somewhere, however, and I have to draw it right down the middle of Jack and Jill vs. The World. The character played by Freddie Prinze Jr. has a fairly large shoulder tattoo and throughout the movie it moves from the left shoulder to his right, to his left, to his right, to his left, to his right and finally back to his left. That's pretty egregious but it's not why I'm pointing it out.The tattoo is at least 6 to 8 inches long and 3 to 5 inches wide, not the sort of thing anyone gets as a lark. Yet there's no explanation ever given for it and it doesn't in any way fit the character Prinze Jr. is playing. If the tattoo had served some purpose in the story, somebody probably would have noticed that it kept switching from one shoulder to the other. But it was just some random detail inserted into the script for no particular reason, which is how I'd describe a lot of things in this film. Jack and Jill vs. The World is littered with random details and excess scenes that aren't even tangentially connected to the story being told.Jack (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is a successful young ad man in New York City. He meets a bohemian aspiring actress named Jill (Taryn Manning) and instantly invites her to move in with him. You'd think it would be because he would want to bang her, but that would require the screenplay to treat Jack like a real human being. Instead, he does it out of the platonic goodness of his heart, until Jill finally throws herself at him. They then proceed to hang out more like college roommates who occasionally boink instead of boyfriend and girlfriend, only to eventually break up over a secret that Jill keeps from Jack long after any decent person would have told him. Jack responds to that like a complete dick but they get back together because…well, I think it's legally required under federal statute that every feeble attempt at romantic comedy finishes with the two stars back in each other's arms.While Jack and Jill are doing their whole thing, Jack also spends an inordinate amount of screen time at work with his ad writing partner George (Peter Stebbings). Now, it's standard for the male lead in a rom com to have a best friend and it's not unusual for those two guys to have a lot of scenes together, but this movie takes the cake. There is so much more interaction between Jack and George than Jack and Jill that it would have made perfect sense for the story to end with the two guys admitting their gay love for each other and running away to Fire Island. And of course, Jill also has a zany best friend of her own in Lucy (Vanessa Parise). Jill and Lucy have far fewer scenes together than Jack and George, which is also weirdly standard for rom coms, but Lucy does have two scenes that are entirely about her character, something George never has.If Peter Stebbings and Vanessa Parise hadn't written this script and Parise hadn't directed this movie, the roles of George and Lucy would have been greatly reduced or possibly eliminated. Neither of them ultimately contributes a damn thing to the story except as plot devices. Maybe the time spent on them could have been used to develop the relationship between Jack and his father (Robert Forster), rather than having it reduced to three scenes that only make sense if you realize they're trying to do the exact same father-son garbage you've seen in umpteen other films.And I can't forget about the alarm clock. Jack lives in an apartment with otherwise modern, moderately stylish furnishings. But in his bedroom is an alarm clock straight out of the 1970s with the numbers that flip over like an old scoreboard. The clock is also patched together with a bunch of duct tape. Am I wrong, or does it sound like Jack having such an incongruous appliance should have some sort of significance? Where did it come from? Why does he still have it? That sort of thing. You won't be surprised to learn there's no explanation or reason given for the clock, even though it's prominently featured several times. I suppose the whole clock back story could have been edited out, but this film is barely 90 minutes long. Another 2 or 3 minutes couldn't have been added so that at least one frickin' detail wouldn't have been so random?Jack and Jill vs. The World is a flabby, unfocused mess with a fundamental premise so clichéd and hoary that it can't carry the extra weight and collapses long before the movie is over. Unless you need to see a Taryn Manning nip slip, skip this thing.
Claudio Carvalho In Manhattan, the successful executive Jack (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is a methodical and controlled man with simple habits that works in an advertisement agency with his coworker George (Peter Stebbings). While smoking a cigarette on the roof of the building of the agency, Jack meets the aspirant actress Jill (Taryn Manning) that has just arrived in New York and is seeking a job. He sympathizes with her situation and gives her name to a Klubendorf commercial in the campaign promoted by his agency. When he takes Jill home, he finds that she lives in a very low-budget hotel and out of the blue, he invites her to stay in the guest room of his fancy apartment for a while. Jill changes the behavior of Jack that becomes happier, and proposes Jack to write together a manifesto where the first rule is "be honest". However, she omits to Jack that she is sick with cystic fibrosis and she would have only a couple of years more. When Jack discovers that Jill is ill, he feels betrayed with her violation of their first rules, and they split. But Jack is changed and sooner he decides to seek out Jill.I was looking forward for the next work of Vanessa Parise since the lovely "Kiss the Bride", where this director and actress develops the themes family, relationship, feelings and love in a nice low-budget movie. "Jack and Jill vs. the World" is a sweet little movie about happiness, sympathy, love, illness and commitment with two lead characters that have opposite behaviors and backgrounds, but feel attracted for each other. The story has potential and seems to be slightly inspired in "Storie di Ordinaria Follia", but is predictable and entertaining. However the screenplay could be improved with a better development of Jack and Jill characters in the very beginning; the health situation of Jill could be deeper and more dramatic; the relationship of Jack and his father Norman could be also better explored since it is one of the best moments of the movie: and last but not the least, the conclusion is not well-resolved and needed some improvements. But in my opinion, there are unfair reviews in IMDb. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Regras do Amor" ("Rules of the Love")
EXodus25X This movies predictability was predictable, nothing fresh or new in anyway. I do think Freddie Prinze Jr. is actually a good actor but either his choices in movies or the movies that come his way all suck, pretty much. Taryn Manning did some good supporting work in Hustle & Flow but a full movie with her as the female lead is just to much of her and that voice for anyone to take. The movie jumps into it's story way to fast almost as fast as the two characters jump into bed. I assume the narration is suppose to do all the introductions of these characters, but at a whole three minutes worth, that's not enough to make me give a crap. The only remotely positive thing about this film was Prinze's character's job and the characters there, if only the movie would have been based around that and dropped the girl they may have had something. The typical romantic comedy best friend character on the guy side of things was in fact funny a couple times, so I guess not a complete waste. I'm sure are a few girls out there that think calling a bomb threat into their boyfriends place of business so you can reconcile things with him is romantic, I see it as illegal. Just like making a totally unoriginal movie should be.
daniellejjansen I loved this movie. It was so funny and touching. I liked the way that Jill lived her life appreciating every moment. (Her wardrobe, especially her hats, were very cool.) I liked the message of the movie and the positive feeling that I had when I left the theatre. I was also surprised that my guy friends liked the movie as well..it had just enough dry humor for them...and I think they could relate to Jack. I can not fathom that one person actually co-wrote, directed, produced and acted in this movie and did it all so well. It is extremely impressive. The directing was great and the robot song ROCKS...can't wait to see her next movie!