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Toward the end of the summer, as the kids go back to school and Summer Blockbuster Season winds down, Hollywood tends to release quirky films and, for some reason, charming rom-coms starting older stars. And the lovable dramedy Jules definitely brings plenty of out-of-this-world quirks to the late-summer box office.
Jules stars Ben Kinsley as Milton, a lonely widower who passes the time between visits from his daughter by proposing crosswalks and changes to the town motto at the local city council meetings. One night, Milton wakes to find that a space ship has crashed in his backyard, crushing his precious azaleas. Though he tries to tell the town council about his otherworldly visitor, everyone just thinks that old Milton is losing it. But he’s actually harboring an alien, who’s just trying to fix his ship and get back home.
Though the other city council meeting regulars (Harriet Sansom Harris’s Sandy and Jane Curtin’s Joyce) initially worry about Milton’s sanity, they soon find that he’s telling the truth. And, like Milton, they find themselves caring for this extraterrestrial being—whom Sandy calls Jules, while Joyce insists on Gary. And these three lonely retirees build a connection with this deserted traveler, who loves eating apples, whose big eyes encourage them to open up about their lives, and who calmly goes along with their need to dress him up in graphic T-shirts and introduce him to late-night TV.
This trio of alien caretakers is quite lovable, but it’s Kingsley’s Milton who stands out for his sweet, trusting, and open acceptance of his mute visitor. He’s so eager to welcome Jules in his lovably awkward way—and he cares for him as if Jules were his own child.
In spite of the quirkiness of the story—which just gets stranger and quirkier as Milton, Sandy, and Joyce try to help Jules fix his ship—it’s surprisingly sweet, too. These four may not all be from the same planet, but they’re all just lonely outsiders in their own way. They help and support each other—sometimes in surprising ways—and Jules gives his Earth friends a new purpose in life. Their adventure is often laugh-out-loud funny—but it’s oddly charming, too.
Jules definitely isn’t like the big-budget blockbusters that have been taking over the box office in recent months. It’s smaller and more intimate. But this quirky dramedy and its lovable characters make for a sweet and funny little film that’s worth checking out on a lazy late-summer evening.
You can follow these lovable outsiders on their otherworldly mission when Jules arrives in theaters on August 11, 2023.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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