Jexi

In a world in which cinematic auteurs such as David Lynch, Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog are year after year finding financing and funding for their films to be a crippling fight, we are are gifted with an Adam Levine venture in which he has sexual intercourse with his mobile phone, voiced by Rose Byrne. 

There is a lot wrong with that opening paragraph but alas, Jexi is a film that is bottom of the barrel comedy at every turn. It is a traumatising and flat comedic venture wrapped around a potentially profound social message on addiction and anxiety. However, it is the dire execution from writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore who stumble with an unbelievable fall in a film that misses its mark by a millennium. 

The comedic prowess is neither fun or barely entertaining. Dick, excrement and sex jokes flow by the second and even if they were relatively fun — they are not — the audience would hardly notice their presence with how painfully avoidable the film is with the jokes’ pacing and impact. Levine puts forward his usual schtick and his boisterous turn is one that is beginning to feel flat and regurgitated. Rose Byrne has probably the easiest paycheck she will ever see and the resulting voice work is as irrelevant and unimpactful as one would imagine. 

The only aspect that keeps Jexi afloat from an utter disaster is the performance and character of Alexandra Shipp, a personality who feels the most human and authetic. Even if Shipp is still working with a dire screenplay that results in the arc of her character more or less superfluous and patheitc in how she is a doormat for Levine's character, the actress shines through with a charismatic performance.

The filmmaking is no better. The aesthetic, production design and cinematography from Marcia Hinds and Ben Kutchins, respectively, are reminiscent of an SNL or Funny or Die skit, resulting in a visual substance of nothingness and utter cheapness. Ultimately, this reinforces the fact that this lifeless comedy was made on a whim for mere nothing, hoping to recoup the cost of its tax relief and nothing else.

JEXI is released October 11th 2019