Jawbreaker (1999)

Director:

Darren Stein

Writer:

Darren Stein (writer)

Release Date:

19 February 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

The sweetest candies are sour as death inside.

Plot:

Three of the most popular girls at Reagan High accidentally kill the prom queen with a jaw-breaker when a kidnapping goes horribly wrong.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Best Friend | Popular Girl | Dead | Geek

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Alexandra Adi	...	Cheerleader #1
Tatyana Ali	...	Brenda
Joni Allen	...	Make-Up Monger #1
Charlotte Ayanna	...	Liz Purr (as Charlotte Roldan)
Julie Benz	...	Marcie Fox
Marita Black	...	Dreamsperson #1
Billy Butler	...	High School Stud
Chad Christ	...	Zack
Claudine Claudio	...	Drama Student #2
Jeff Conaway	...	Marcie's Father
Jane Leigh Connelly	...	Wannabe #2 (as Jane Connelly)
Ethan Erickson	...	Dane Sanders
Vylette Fagerholm	...	Make-Up Monger #2
Brian Gattas	...	Drama Student #1
Rebecca Gayheart	...	Julie Freeman

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, language and violence, all involving teens.

Runtime:

87 min | Germany:78 min | Argentina:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Iceland:12 | USA:R (certificate #36269) | Australia:M | France:-12 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 (video premiere) | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Argentina:16 | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Crossroads Films

Trivia:

Writer/director Darren Stein intentionally cast older actresses as the high school leads as an homage to films like Grease (1978) and Carrie (1976), which seemed to use actresses who were clearly in their mid-twenties.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Fern and Courtney are talking about Fern's new name, Fern's Diet Coke jumps back and forth from her hand to the table between cuts.

Quotes:

[Julie Freeman approaches Courtney Shayne and Marcie Fox]
Courtney: Look what the kitty dragged in.
Marcie: Meow.

Movie Connections:

References The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Soundtrack:

Checkin' It Out

Nice enough

This is a pretty nice morality tale, in the tradition of Cary, as much as Clueless and Heathers. It's not without problems (the leads are about a decade too old to be in High School), but it does have a lot of pretty good one-liners ("She's Evil! And she's hasn't even graduated high school yet!"). Pretty fun, especially if you like Rose McGowan and Rebecca Gayheart.