Sadly Over-hyped

Let's be realistic.

A Masterpiece!

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

For a serious movie, the box cover for Jaded is all wrong. With moments of strong sexuality, the movie is not a sexual thriller but a drama. Still, with lack of experience from a first time director, Jaded falls short of anything serious. Carla Gugino is the main draw. Wanting to do a serious role, Gugino offers her naked body to draw a large audience to this movie. The acting, at times, is good. An interesting supporting role from Christopher Guest makes Jaded worth watching, from time to time. Still, Gugion's "assets" are the main attraction. Caryn Krooth's amateur film making loses any true drama that Jaded tries to create. The story and acting can only tell part of the story. With simple direction throughout the movie, the story is unable to progress to anything dramatic with a simple director behind the camera. At times, scenes are shot with only one, maybe two different shots. Whether this was an issue of time or budget, the style of direction loses its feel and reminds the audience that they are watching a low budget movie.

I had this movie given to me, and have to admit, I am glad that I did not pay money for it.The back of the box makes it seem like some kind of sex triangle, with 2 women trying to seduce her. But the reality in this movie is far from that.In reality, the main subject is the victim of a vicious and sadistic rape by the two other characters. There was absolutely nothing in this that I found interesting at all.Even movies like Silence Of The Lambs and Wild Things (which the box tries to compare this movie to) were riveting, because of the unexpected turns and suspense.But Jaded has none of this. It concentrates on the rapeists and the sick relationship with the boyfriend of one of them. And the persuit of a videotape that may prove the victims story is true.While it does show that same sex rape is possible, it is not a movie worth watching.If at all possible, pass this movie up at all costs.

"Jaded" offers a premise with potential as it looks at the rape of a woman by two other women and ask the question "when is rape not rape?". Unfortunately the flick seems to suffer from bad direction as it slogs through legal minutia while trying to weave some kind of story with a handful of foul mouthed and poorly portrayed characters only to end abruptly. "Jaded" is lame stuff only for the bleary-eyed couch potato in the mood for some dark drama.

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!