Jasper: Review

14th August 2024

Jasper Clay (Nathan Hill) is a private detective on the brink of retirement until he hears about what could be his last job. However, meeting Courtney (Sandy Greenwood) soon convinces him that he should take the case, especially since while they’re making love two men break in and attack her.

So, armed with only his detective skills and animal magnetism, Detective Clay starts his pursuit of Courtney’s missing child.

Jasper is a detective comedy written, directed by, and starring Nathan Hill in the first movie in which he cast himself as the lead. Having always cast himself as characters with dubious ethics, it’s nice to see him in a role where things just seem to happen to him.

A lot of the comedy seems to come from Hill’s own miscasting in his own movie and unlike his other work, this is where he seems to be more aware of it. We’ve all seen detective movies where women are inexplicably attracted to the lead character and Jasper takes this to an extreme level. Not being able to hold a single scene with a woman without her wanting to have sex with him, the audience is sure to smile as Jasper is pulled into one sex scene after another – poor guy.

However, this is a joke which audiences may respond to differently. It’s one thing to point out a cliché of movies such as Jasper where the lead is a babe magnet despite the casting, but it’s another to do this repeatedly.

The audience may even start to wonder if director Hill is fulfilling his own desires or has some kind of inferiority complex which may make the audience feel sorry for him.

They may also not really understand why Jasper is so determined to see the case through to its conclusion because, despite the sexual attraction between them, there’s nothing compelling about his relationship with Courtney. Nathan Hill may be a writer/director/actor with his heart in the right place, but it may help to tell the audience a little more about Jasper so they know whether they can laugh with him or at him.

Facebook

Google

Twitter

We hope you're enjoying BRWC. You should check us out on our social channels, subscribe to our newsletter, and tell your friends. BRWC is short for battleroyalewithcheese.