Milton Robinson lives a very average life in Boonton, Pennsylvania. His life is so average, in fact, that when he gets up at town meetings during the open discussion segments, he makes the same requests every time, often word for word. Change the town slogan. Put in a crosswalk at a certain lengthy intersection. Milton’s fellow seniors, Sandy and Joyce, smile and glower at him respectively. It’s almost like Groundhog Day.
Life isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great, either. Milton is a widower in his late seventies who lives alone, he seldom hears from his son, who lives in California, and his daughter, Denise, has to help him pay his bills. Milton’s mind is starting to go ever so slightly—Denise is alarmed when she finds a can of beans in the bathroom.
One night a flying saucer crashes in Milton’s backyard, but when he calls 9-1-1 the dispatcher doesn’t believe him, even when he tells her the thing has crushed his azaleas and smashed his birdbath.
Milton tries to go on normally, but a few days later he finds an alien passed out on his patio. He goes to yet another town meeting, makes the exact same requests about the crosswalk and the slogan, then adds that he has an alien in his backyard.
Sandy is curious. Joyce is aghast because she’s afraid the town will think its seniors are crazy. The three of them end up building an unlikely community with the alien, who they dub “Jules,” giving Jules T-shirts and having meals with him, in which Jules eats nothing but apples.
For the most part, this is a sweet, quiet movie. It’s like a combination of E.T. and Cocoon, except that there’s very little shock value or violence. It’s barely even an alien movie, because there are no death rays, or any kind of rays, and no one acts outside the ordinary beyond Milton buying a lot of apples at the local grocery store.
What it’s really about is ageing, finding one’s place, and building community. It shows what happens when family members abandon each other in one way or another, whether it’s through distance or a failure to listen. It shows the mental anguish of realizing that one’s faculties may not be one’s own for much longer, and how to handle that going forward.
To be sure, there are some goofy moments, too. Joyce, who loves talking about her time in “the city,” mentions that she used to be a singer. Funny thing—she happens to have some accompaniment tapes with her when she mentions it, and before anyone can say anything she pops a tape in the stereo and belts out, of all things, “Freebird.” Sandy and Milton listen politely while Jules looks mystified in a deadpan way.
Oh, and speaking of Jules, who doesn’t speak, he has a thing for cats. Dead ones. I’m not going to spoil what he does with them, but it’s truly unexpected and would likely raise a lot of eyebrows (I heard a lot of oohs and aahs and chuckles from the audience I saw the movie with).
Ben Kingsley gives a very sensitive performance about a guy who has to wake up to his own flaws and his own mortality, and decide whether he’s going to run from it or take it as it comes. Dementia may be creeping up on him, but he doesn’t have to let his fear of it ruin the time he’s got left.
The movie does have a few of its own flaws, though; namely, it appears to be checking off Hollywood’s inclusivity boxes just for the sake of ticking them off, but they don’t help the story. I think it could have been funnier than it was—the potential was definitely there, especially once the cat thing starts. I wish Jules had done more around town to make his presence felt. There’s also a subplot involving the government looking for aliens that was pretty needless although it does add a teeny bit of tension.
In the end, though, I was smiling and I saw a lot of other people at my screening smiling as well. Sometimes all that’s needed is a simple, cute story, and Jules hits the mark in that regard.
Jules is currently in theaters. Rated PG-13.
My grade: A-
Principal Cast: Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoe Winters, Jane Curtin, Jade Quon, Donald Paul, Anna George, Teddy Canez, Narea Kang, Edward James Hyland, Blair Baker, Joshua Moore, John Skelley, Christopher Kelly, Aubie Merrylees, Andy Daly, Anna George, Eric T. Miller, Cody Kostro, Marina Shay.
Directed by Marc Turtletaub.
Written by Gavin Steckler.