Jawbreaker
File:JawbreakerPoster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Darren Stein
Produced by Adam Silverman
Written by Darren Stein
Starring Rose McGowan
Rebecca Gayheart
Julie Benz
Judy Greer
Ethan Erickson
Carol Kane
Pam Grier
Music by Stephen Endelman
Cinematography Amy Vincent
Editing by Troy T. Takaki
Distributed by TriStar Pictures
Release date(s) January 30, 1999 (Sundance)
February 19, 1999
Running time 87 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3.5 million
Box office $3,117,085[1]

Jawbreaker is an American black comedy thriller film, directed by Darren Stein. It was released February 19, 1999. The film stars Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, Julie Benz, and Judy Greer as girls in an exclusive clique in their high school. Charlotte Ayanna has a non-speaking cameo role as a murdered prom queen. The film was inspired by the infamous movie Heathers, and is often compared to it, particularly the plot involving a popular female clique, and the accidental murder of one of its members. It also holds similarities to Carrie. Of his concept for the film, Stein has stated The jawbreaker just came to represent the duality of the poppy sweetness of the girls, of high school and of youth, versus the whole idea that this thing could break your jaw.[2]

A musical adaptation of the film, which Stein also wrote the book for, is scheduled[needs update] to be performed on July 29, 2010, featuring Jenna Leigh Green.[3][4]

Contents

Plot [link]

Blessed with beauty, wealth and charisma the "Flawless Four" are the most popular girls in Reagan High school. The clique consists of Courtney Shayne (Rose McGowan); Marcie Fox (Julie Benz); Julie Freeman (Rebecca Gayheart); and Elizabeth Purr (Charlotte Ayanna), the "Princess Di of Reagan High." Of the four, Elizabeth Purr was the only one who was genuinely kind-hearted and loved by the entire school. Julie was "doomed to be popular because of 'that face' and because she was best friends with Elizabeth Purr". Cold-blooded queen bee Courtney and her airheaded friend, Marcie, demanded respect through terror.

However, Courtney, Marcie and Julie play a mindless prank on Liz the morning of her seventeenth birthday, by performing a fake kidnapping with Courtney ramming a jawbreaker into her mouth to gag her. Still in her underwear, the girls trap Liz in the trunk of a car and drive off.

However, upon opening the trunk, they are greeted with the grisly sight of Liz dead, having choked to death by aspirating the jawbreaker into her larynx. Horrified, Julie wants to go to the police but Courtney forbids her. Instead, Courtney calls the school pretending to be Liz's mother and tells them Liz is ill and cannot attend school. To keep up appearances, Courtney, Marcie and Julie then go to school as though nothing had happened. When the principal sends school outcast Fern Mayo (Judy Greer) to deliver Liz's homework at the end of the day, she stumbles upon the three girls and Liz's mangled body. Out of jealousy, Courtney fabricates a story that Liz died at the hands of a rapist, and plots to tarnish Liz's good reputation by spreading false rumors that she was actually a rebellious, promiscuous girl, and not the perfect angel she made herself out to be.

Fern, who had admired Liz to the point of hero worship, is appalled and attempts to flee the house, but the girls easily catch her. To buy Fern's silence, Courtney accepts Fern into the clique, telling her to take Liz's place. Courtney and Marcie then give her a makeover, transforming her from plain and awkward to elegant and beautiful. Later in the school cafeteria, Courtney introduces Fern as the beautiful exchange student "Vylette." Julie, overwhelmed by guilt at her part in Liz's death, distances herself from the clique, only to be tormented by her former friends and becomes a new target for abuse throughout the school. Her only real friend during this time is her drama student boyfriend, Zack.

As Vylette's popularity soars, Julie watches in mute horror as Courtney spins a relentless web of lies, trickery and manipulation to cover up the murder and maintain her popularity. Julie discovers, to her disgust, that after they'd returned Liz's corpse to her house, Courtney went out and seduced a stranger (Marilyn Manson) at a sleazy bar and had sex with him in Liz's bed, making it seem as though he had raped Liz.

In time, Vylette becomes intoxicated with her newfound popularity, which has eclipsed Courtney's own. Realizing she has created a monster, Courtney threatens to reveal the truth about Vylette, but Vylette vows she will reveal the whole truth about Liz's death if Courtney attempts to expose her. Infuriated, Courtney and Marcie post enlarged yearbook photos of Fern Mayo all over the school with the message "Who is Vylette" written on them, revealing Vylette's true identity. Fern is thoroughly humiliated by the entire school and once again reduced to an outcast. Feeling no remorse for the things she has done, Courtney casually attends the senior prom with jock Dane Sanders (Ethan Erickson), who was in love with Liz before she died.

Julie takes pity on Fern and forgives her for falling under Courtney's influence. Later that night as she sulks in her room, going through a bag of Liz's belongings that were given to her, Julie finds the recording card she was fiddling with when Courtney was faking Liz's death and discovers it has incidentally recorded Courtney's admission to the murder. Struck with an idea, Julie, Fern and Zack all hurry to the prom. As Dane and Courtney are announced as Prom King and Queen, Zack sneaks backstage and broadcasts the card message over the sound system while Courtney is making her acceptance speech. Dane (seized with shock and disgust over the revelation) quickly abandons Courtney. Horrified that her scheme has become unraveled, she races for the exit as the rest of the students pelt her with corsages and call her a murderer. Awaiting Courtney at the very end of the mob is Julie, who gleefully snaps a picture of her former friend's anguished face to immortalize the occasion.

Main characters [link]

Actor Role Description
Rose McGowan Courtney Alice Shayne Courtney, described as "Satan in Heels", is a cruel, sociopathic, self-absorbed high school senior, whose thoughtless prank on Elizabeth Purr left her dead. Courtney is obsessed with being feared by all around her and will stop at nothing to maintain her popularity. It is implied that Courtney intentionally murdered Liz out of envy that people adored Liz, and hated her. Courtney is finally exposed after Julie discovers the recording card she was holding when she said (and mistakenly held down the recording button), "I killed Liz. I killed the teen dream. Deal with it."
Rebecca Gayheart Julie Freeman Julie was stated to be "doomed to be popular", not just because of her beauty but also because of her close friendship with Elizabeth Purr. Initially just another snobby popular girl, Julie's attitude significantly changes after Liz's death. Julie repeatedly enforces her desire to tell the authorities what really happened, but Courtney refuses and, thus, kicks her from the clique. Her popularity declines and she is left nearly alone, unsupported by all except her boyfriend Zack and later by Fern after Courtney turns on her. She eventually triumphs over Courtney at the senior prom after broadcasting her admission over the sound system.
Julie Benz Marcie Fox Courtney's dim-witted right hand woman, who has assigned herself the nickname "Foxy", oblivious to the fact that no one but herself ever calls her that. She comes from a single parent family, and shows disdain for her father. She is a typical, airheaded Valley girl, spending most of her time trying to impress Courtney and speaking in outdated slang, but she also abandons Courtney after the truth of Liz's death is revealed to everyone and hides under a table.
Judy Greer Fern Mayo/Vylette Fern is a dull, mousy girl who is regarded with contempt and indifference by most of the student body. She also serves as the film's narrator. Fern was one of Elizabeth Purr's many fans and admitted she often dreamed about being so beautiful and popular. After stumbling upon Liz's murder, Fern's silence is bought by Courtney and Marcie accepting her as one of them and turning her into a beautiful new student named "Vylette." Vylette however turns out to be just as spiteful and self-centred as Courtney, but her real identity is exposed to the school after she displeases Courtney. Fern joins forces with Julie to bring down Courtney after this.
Charlotte Ayanna Elizabeth "Liz" Purr The most popular girl in Reagan High. Elizabeth only appears in flashbacks or as a corpse, and does not utter a single line of dialogue throughout the entire film. Therefore what information is known of her comes from other characters. Elizabeth was a beautiful, wealthy girl and very kind-hearted. All of Reagan High adored her, and she treated people with kindness - which earned resentment from Courtney. Liz is killed by Courtney after the girls performed a fake kidnapping on her, and Courtney stuffs a jawbreaker into her mouth. Liz chokes to death in the trunk of Courtney's car.

Minor characters [link]

Reception [link]

The film's critical response was overwhelmingly negative. It currently holds a 7% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 57 reviews (4 positive, 53 negative), leading to it's inclusion on several of the websites lists ranking the worst films, earning the distinction of being the single worst film of 1998 as well as ranking among the top ten worst films of the 1990s.[5] Roger Ebert gave the film 1 and a half out of 4, stating "The movie is a slick production of a lame script ... If anyone in the plot had the slightest intelligence, the story would implode".[6] Francesca Dinglasan from Boxoffice magazine gave the film 1 and a half out of 5, criticizing the film's humor and similarities to Heathers.[7] James Berardinelli gave the film a more favorable 2 and a half out of 4, calling it "palatable, and occasionally even clever", however concluding that "while the film offers more than a Heathers rehash, it never fully develops its own identity.[8]

Soundtrack [link]

Track # Song title Artist Length
1.
Yoo Hoo Imperial Teen 3:31
2.
I See Letters To Cleo 3:56
3.
Next To You Edna Swap 2:35
4.
Don't Call Me Babe Shampoo 2:58
5.
Bad Word For A Good Thing Friggs 2:53
6.
Stay In Bed Grand Mal 4:49
7.
Flow Transister 5:59
8.
She Bop Howie Beno 3:06
9.
Water Boy Imperial Teen 1:36
10.
Rock You Like a Hurricane Scorpions 4:14
11.
Rock 'n' Roll Machine The Donnas 2:54
12.
Beat You Up The Prissteens 2:36
13.
Trouble Shampoo 3:21

See also [link]

References [link]

External links [link]


https://wn.com/Jawbreaker_(film)

Jawbreaker

Jawbreaker may refer to:

  • Gobstopper or jawbreaker, a hard candy with multiple layers
  • Jawbreaker (band), an American rock band
  • Jawbreaker (film), a 1999 film starring Rose McGowan
  • Jawbreaker (Transformers), several fictional characters in the Transformers universes
  • Jawbreaker (TV series), a Canadian talk show hosted by Brad Fraser
  • Jawbreaker (video game), a 1981 Pac-Man clone
  • Jawbreaker (Windows Mobile game), a 2003 video game
  • Jawbreaker: The attack on bin Laden and al-Qaeda, a book by Gary Berntsen
  • "Jawbreaker", a song by The Dead Weather from Sea of Cowards
  • "Jawbreaker", a song by Judas Priest from Defenders of the Faith
  • Jawbreaker, a type of professional wrestling throw
  • See also

  • Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers!, a 2003 video game
  • Film (band)

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    New wave years (1979-1981)

    During 1977 and 1978, bassist Marino Pelajić, guitarist Mladen Jurčić, and drummer Branko Hromatko were Azra members when Branimir "Johnny" Štulić brought Jura Stublić as the new vocalist. Stublić was to become Aerodrom member, but due to his deep vocals it never happened. The lineup functioned for a few months only and after a quarrel with Štulić, on early 1979, Pelajić, Jurčić, Hromatko and Stublić formed the band Šporko Šalaporko i Negove Žaluzine, naming the band after a story from the "Polet" youth magazine, which was soon after renamed to Film. The memories of the Azra lineup later inspired Štulić to write the song "Roll over Jura" released on Filigranski pločnici in 1982.

    Saxophonist Jurij Novoselić, who at the time had worked under the pseudonym Kuzma Videosex, joined the band, inspiring others to use pseudonym instead of their original names: vocalist Stublić became Jura Jupiter, bassist Pelajić became Mario Baraccuda and guitarist Jurčić became Max Wilson. Before joining the band, Stublić did not have much experience as a vocalist, however, since his father had been an opera singer, he often visited the theatre and opera, and at the age of 13, he started playing the guitar, earning money as a street performer at seaside resorts.

    Film (film)

    Film is a 1965 film written by Samuel Beckett, his only screenplay. It was commissioned by Barney Rosset of Grove Press. Writing began on 5 April 1963 with a first draft completed within four days. A second draft was produced by 22 May and a forty-leaf shooting script followed thereafter. It was filmed in New York in July 1964.

    Beckett’s original choice for the lead – referred to only as “O” – was Charlie Chaplin, but his script never reached him. Both Beckett and the director Alan Schneider were interested in Zero Mostel and Jack MacGowran. However, the former was unavailable and the latter, who accepted at first, became unavailable due to his role in a "Hollywood epic." Beckett then suggested Buster Keaton. Schneider promptly flew to Los Angeles and persuaded Keaton to accept the role along with "a handsome fee for less than three weeks' work."James Karen, who was to have a small part in the film, also encouraged Schneider to contact Keaton.

    The filmed version differs from Beckett's original script but with his approval since he was on set all the time, this being his only visit to the United States. The script printed in Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett (Faber and Faber, 1984) states:

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    Internal flows are those where the fluid is fully bounded. Internal flow lubrication theory has many industrial applications because of its role in the design of fluid bearings. Here a key goal of lubrication theory is to determine the pressure distribution in the fluid volume, and hence the forces on the bearing components. The working fluid in this case is often termed a lubricant.

    Free film lubrication theory is concerned with the case in which one of the surfaces containing the fluid is a free surface. In that case the position of the free surface is itself unknown, and one goal of lubrication theory is then to determine this. Surface tension may then be significant, or even dominant. Issues of wetting and dewetting then arise. For very thin films (thickness less than one micrometre), additional intermolecular forces, such as Van der Waals forces or disjoining forces, may become significant.

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