Jayne Mansfield’s Car runs like a Southern period soap drama
Actor turned filmmaker Billy Bob Thornton returns to the director’s chair with a family drama set in Alabama in 1969, entitled Jayne Mansfield’s Car. The movie was co-written by Thornton and Tom Epperson and has a formidable cast of players, most notably, Oscar winner Robert Duvall (The Godfather), veteran thespian John Hurt (The Naked Civil Servant), Golden Globe winner Kevin Bacon (Mystic River) as well Northern Ireland native Ray Stevenson (Dexter) and Australian actress Frances O’Connor (The Hunter). IFQ favorite Tippi Hedren (The Birds) was credited as Naomi, the dead matriarch who was married twice with a second family in England. Naomi is the missing link that forces two dysfunctional families to come together when her dying wish to be buried in her hometown is granted.
Familial dynamics, tension, damaged characters, extreme personalities and strange attractions all interweave. The actors deliver solid performances in a film that has the potential to be excellent. However the screenplay fails to pack a punch and the characters are underdeveloped thus leaving the film slow and lacking in cohesion. Inevitable cultural clashes between the American and English families become stereotypical.
The film’s themes are that of fathers and their sons, the effects of war on the family unit as well the emotional fallout when the woman of the house leaves. Duvall plays tough Patriarch Jim Caldwell who has three miserable adult sons played by Thornton, Bacon and Robert Patrick, and a free spirited daughter married to a buffoon (Ron White). Thornton plays the part of Skip, an emotionally scarred military pilot with arrested development, a penchant for cars and pilot medals. Bacon portrays an ex GI, who masks his demons by smoking pot, partying and opposing the Vietnam War. The offspring are all still trying to please their cranky war vet pop who seems to be very disappointed in each of them.
Along with eye-catching cinematography and an unusual score, a few scenes definitely stand out. When Caldwell Sr. drinks ice tea that is spiked with LSD, he goes “off his rocker” in the woods with the “old boy” looking on in disbelief. Audiences also get to see his more human side when he asks Bedford to explain how he came to meet and marry his estranged wife Naomi in England. Wartime trauma is not that well explored in film so credit must be given to Thornton for educating viewers on PTSD. In one of the best scenes, Skip discuss his dark war experiences with Bedford’s daughter Camilla (Frances O’Connor).
The downside of the film is that it is overlong and has too many unnecessary tangents such as the weird kinky chemistry between Skip and Camilla who has an “un-British” frisky personality and enjoys reciting Tennessee Williams in the nude. The sexual relationship between Donna played brilliantly by Katherine LaNasa and Bedford’s handsome son (Stevenson) is more appealing and believable as she deserves some love and attention.
Disappointingly, the film has nothing to do with pin-up icon Jayne Mansfield who died in real life in a gruesome car accident in Louisiana at the age of 34: a replica of the car in which she died is a scene in the film when locals attend a star gazing event in the local town.
Overall Thornton helmed an ambitious Southern period drama with multiple plots and multiple characters and did very well to hold it together. Ultimately, there were just too many themes to balance and audiences are left wishing for many more scenes between Duvall and Hurt.
Review by Briege McGarrity