the incredible jessica james movie review

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The Incredible Jessica James

An aspiring playwright in New York strikes up a friendship with a guy while on the rebound from a break-up. An aspiring playwright in New York strikes up a friendship with a guy while on the rebound from a break-up. An aspiring playwright in New York strikes up a friendship with a guy while on the rebound from a break-up.

• Jim Strouse
• Jessica Williams
• Chris O'Dowd
• LaKeith Stanfield
• 47 User reviews
• 51 Critic reviews
• 72 Metascore
• 3 nominations

• Jessica James

• (as Lakeith Stanfield)

• Mrs. Phillips

• Mandy's New Man
• (as Patricia Floyd)

• See all cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Jessica's wall of rejection letters also features a diploma from Carnegie Mellon University.
• Goofs When Jessica is talking to Damon on the street (piano scene), the medium shot of them in profile shows their shadows parallel to the sidewalk. In the close-up shots of Jessica and Damon, the shadows are at about 45º to the sidewalk. This can be seen in shadows of the trees behind Jessica and of the shadows of Damon's head on his body.

Jessica James : What?

Boone : I *really* like you.

Jessica James : Yeah, Boone. Of course you do. Everyone does. I'm freaking dope.

• Connections Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Best Netflix Romance Movies (2018)
• Soundtracks Yegelle Tezeta Written by Mulatu Astatke Performed by Mulatu Astatke Courtesy of Buda Musique Paris & Lipservices By arrangement wtih CRC Editions

User reviews 47

• guypop-994-459196
• Oct 15, 2020
• How long is The Incredible Jessica James? Powered by Alexa
• July 28, 2017 (United States)
• United States
• Jessica James Siêu Đẳng
• Beachside Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 25 minutes

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The Incredible Jessica James Reviews

Williams was actually a former correspondent on US programme The Daily Show, but has successfully made the tricky jump to acting look easy. Watch for the chance to see a young actor clearly destined for stardom.

Full Review | May 18, 2021

Williams' voracious and unapologetically non-demure performance brings the subtext to the surface. She takes over, defining herself as a star in her first lead role.

Full Review | Dec 12, 2020

A really charming way to spend 83 mins!

Full Review | Oct 8, 2020

Jessica James is kind of obnoxious, mean to her dates, and she's definitely her own biggest fan. But she's 25 and she's trying really hard.

Full Review | Sep 11, 2019

Astute, hilarious, and with an open-endedness that rings true to life, Strouse has gifted us wisdom and one hell of a leading lady in Williams.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 1, 2019

The Incredible Jessica James actually wields colorblindness in a positive way.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Nov 16, 2018

Director Jim Strouse...allows Jessica Williams' energy to shine and dominate the film - which she does with ease.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 24, 2018

The Incredible Jessica James is quite - dare I say it, incredible - for a number of reasons, an obvious one being that a strong and independent woman of color takes the helm, quirks and all, and we love her for it.

Full Review | Aug 6, 2018

This movie is surprisingly sweet, bright, and optimistic in all the right places.

Full Review | Apr 20, 2018

Cute, slight -- the very definition of "Netflixable."

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 20, 2018

The fresh, genuinely funny rom-com will make you feel a lot of things, and you'll undoubtedly emerge wishing that Williams was your best friend.

Full Review | Dec 19, 2017

Writer/director James Strouse has given us a modern comedy that is both innovative and genuine, going as far as dwelving into several comedy subgenres...

Full Review | Nov 26, 2017

There's a power in seeing a self-aware black woman on screen who simply proceeds through life like she hasn't been defeated by it, like she still feels she can make a difference, like she still believes that the world is hers.

Full Review | Sep 26, 2017

The Incredible Jessica James has more to it than what first meets the eyes, and it's so worth delving into if you've got the patience to relish in it for exactly what it is.

Full Review | Aug 29, 2017

But all along, [Jessica Williams'] presence onscreen showed something like star power. And in The Incredible Jessica James, she fulfills that promise.

Full Review | Aug 28, 2017

Unfortunately, The Incredible Jessica James isn't quite as incredible as Jessica James.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/10 | Aug 25, 2017

[Jessica] Williams is a very strong presence with energy and personality to spare--she will go far.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2017

This drama-comedy goes general when others go specific.

Full Review | Aug 11, 2017

What makes The Incredible Jessica James stand out-other than terrific performances from Williams and co-stars- is in the effort it puts towards being a romantic comedy that emphasizes the "comedy" part.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2017

Jessica Williams deserves your undivided attention. She is freakin' dope, and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Full Review | Aug 7, 2017

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‘The Incredible Jessica James’ Is a Bold Woman in Progress

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By Nicole Herrington

• July 28, 2017

One of the best scenes in “The Incredible Jessica James” comes two-thirds of the way through the movie. Jessica, arguing with a guy she’s sort of been seeing, delivers a kiss-off: “I’m freakin’ dope.” That bold declaration not only represents a strong young woman but is also a gift for fans of the actress who plays her, Jessica Williams, the former “Daily Show” correspondent and current co-host of the “2 Dope Queens” podcast.

And yet the struggle is real for her character. Jessica James is a Brooklyn playwright going through a “weird transitional phase,” not really coping well with a recent breakup (her ex-boyfriend keeps coming to an untimely end in her dreams) and trying to remain optimistic as rejection letters from theater companies pile up. Those notices share a wall in her Bushwick apartment with Playbill covers, posters for old school productions and inspirational quotes from Lillian Hellman.

Her love of theater is deep, as witnessed in scenes with young students in a playwriting class she teaches. She bonds with one, Shandra (a delightful Taliyah Whitaker), who shows promise but is also processing the recent divorce of her parents. The snappy dialogue makes Jessica’s silly moments with the kids as well as heart-to-hearts with her friend Tasha (Noël Wells, just as charming as she was in “Master of None”) feel most lived-in and natural, even when she is asked to recommend a show for a friend of her mother’s back home in Ohio who’s “heard good things about ‘Jersey Boys.’” Jessica prefers “dialogue-driven dramas that explore the human condition.”

The director Jim Strouse wrote this movie, which began streaming Friday on Netflix, for Ms. Williams after she appeared in his 2015 film, “People Places Things.” The camera lovingly follows her on her adventures in the city, and it’s easy to see why he was inspired to give her this breakout role.

Her character’s forthrightness draws in friends and intrigues potential suitors, including the recently divorced Boone (played by a scruffy and slightly goofy Chris O’Dowd). They are complete opposites but find themselves in bed after an awkward first date. Their courtship involves an elaborate plan to break free of the obsessive cycle of stalking their exes on social media. The solution: Each will follow the other’s ex.

But this is Ms. Williams’s movie, and she owns it. (Though, with its strong ensemble — Lakeith Stanfield plays her ex — I kept thinking it could make for a smart series.) She’s a radiant, tall glass of dopeness and isn’t afraid to tell you so. And in New York City, isn’t that how the strong survive?

The Incredible Jessica James Streaming on Netflix. Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes.

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‘the incredible jessica james’: film review | sundance 2017.

Jim Strouse's 'The Incredible Jessica James' is built around the charms of leading lady Jessica Williams (of 'The Daily Show') as a young playwright navigating a new romance.

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

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A peppy little joke machine, The Incredible Jessica James exists for the one and only reason of providing a showcase for the evident talents of its leading lady, Jessica Williams. Any random five minutes of screen time from this modest, and modestly engaging, romantic comedy provide ample evidence that this four-year Daily Show favorite has the quick wit, fast mouth, bursting energy and sufficient charisma to make the grade on the big screen, or anywhere else she puts her mind to it. On television, this sort of sharp-witted, sexually upfront, trials-of-life-in-the-big-city piece ( Master of None, Fleabag, et al.) would quickly connect with smart young viewers, but while Williams’ fans will be righteously satisfied and new ones made by this good date-night item, the target audience is still more likely to wait for it to appear on small screens than to be lured into theaters.

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Writer-director Jim Strouse has been a Sundance fixture for a decade now, beginning with Grace Is Gone and continuing with The Winning Season and People Places Things, the latter of which featured Williams in a supporting role. Strouse wrote the new film for the actress, and she blasts through it like a force of nature that will not be denied despite the fact that her character, a playwright named Jessica, spends most of her time being rejected, both professionally and personally, the latter due to a breakup with her great love Damon ( LaKeith Stanfield ).

The Bottom Line An amiable vehicle for a rising star.

With a pile of hair, nose ring, assertive physicality and a verbal channel that has no off button, Jessica, from the size of her notebook, would seem to have already written more plays than Ibsen. But as no one has yet confirmed her own high opinion of her craft, she’s stuck teaching at a non-profit children’s theater program in New York City and coping with the usual challenges of life in the big city.

Atop those issues, of course, is sex, a subject Jessica is adept at talking about as well as practicing. When she meets the quasi-dorky sad sack Boone (Chris O’Dowd ), it wouldn’t appear that this pasty Irishman and black firecracker are fated for a momentous encounter between the sheets.

But this seemingly ill-matched pair end up striking some sparks (more like lightning bolts, it seems) after all, and some of the best writing and performing here involve the way both of these characters are perpetually on the edge of uncertainty about what they think of and want from each other; they could go either way, take it or leave it, and how they both handle it says a lot for taking the dive rather than sitting it out.

Although the film skips along at a brisk pace, there’s scant narrative; Jessica suffers through a visit to her ultra-straight parents’ home in Ohio, prepares her young charges for an out-of-town writers’ workshop weekend while struggling to get her star pupil’s stern mother to allow it and endures periodic forlorn attempts by Damon to regain her attention, all the while hoping for her big break. Boone has his own problems but sticks around, with O’Dowd , despite limited screen time, making him into an immensely likeable character adroit at sneaky mood shifts.

But The Incredible Jessica James cannot be mistaken for anything other than Williams’ calling-card movie, and she lays her abilities out there for all to see: high energy, eruptive humor, vaunting ambition, considerable ego, a nimble mood gearshift box and an endless belief in her own talent. She’s got a lot to offer, the door’s been opened, and now we’ll see what she does with it.

Production company: Beachside Productions Cast: Jessica Williams, Chris O’Dowd , Lakeith Stanfield , Noel Wells, Zabryna Guerara , Taliyah Whitaker, Sarah Jones, Will Stephen, Susan Heyward , Megan Ketch Director-screenwriter: Jim Strouse Producers: Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub Executive producers: Jessica Williams, Kerri Hundley Director of photography: Sean McElwee Production designer: Nora Mendis Costume designer: Amanda Ford Music: Keegan DeWitt Casting: Jessica Kelly, Kate Geller Venue: Sundance Film Festival (Premieres)

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