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Jawbreaker
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Jawbreaker (1999) More at IMDbPro »

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Jawbreaker (1999) -- Three of the most popular girls at Reagan High accidentally kill the prom queen with a jaw-breaker when a kidnapping goes horribly wrong.

Overview

User Rating:
4.7/10   8,355 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 11% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Darren Stein
Writer:
Darren Stein (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Jawbreaker on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
19 February 1999 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Crime more
Tagline:
The sweetest candies are sour as death inside. more
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. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
1 nomination more
User Comments:
A sweet and colorful dark comedy that's still a little hard to swallow more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

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 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital | SDDS

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Writer/director Darren Stein is featured in one of the yearbook photos that flash across the screen. more
Goofs:
Continuity: In the scene where the girls open the trunk of Courtney's car we can see that Liz is almost completely covered in bruises and her skin is pale, almost white. But as they walk through the pool area and up the stairs you can clearly see that suddenly her skin tone/bruises are completely gone. When they throw her on the bed suddenly the makeup and bruises are back. more
Quotes:
Courtney: You knew Liz Purr right?
Fern: I-I know of her
Courtney: "Knew" of her, past tense. She's dead Fern, she died. But we've got a bit of a problem because you know we did it. You heard us. That gives you a little something Fern, and it's called power. The power to tell, and you're the kind of girl that tells. A tattle-tale.
Marcie: A rat.
more
Movie Connections:
Spoofs Carrie (1976) more
Soundtrack:
Heartbreaker more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
31 out of 33 people found the following comment useful:-
A sweet and colorful dark comedy that's still a little hard to swallow, 21 January 2004
7/10
Author: johnnysugar from Minneapolis, MN

Much like the candy that bears it's name, "Jawbreaker" is a sweet, infectious dark comedy that wants you to enjoy it for a good, long time. Unfortunately, also like the candy, the film is a little hard to swallow, and it doesn't last as long or come on as strong as it's name would lead you to believe. But even though you know that much candy is bad for you, you still want to have it.

On her 17th birthday, popular girl Liz (Charlotte Ayanna, here as Charlotte Roldan), a member of the "Flawless Four," is kidnapped by her best friends Courtney (Rose McGowan), Marcie (Julie Benz), and Julie (Rebecca Gayheart) as a prank, her screams muffled by a huge jawbreaker. The prank goes horribly wrong, however, when Liz chokes to death on the candy. Instead of going to the authorities, as Julie insists, Courtney devises a massive plan to cover up the death, a plan discovered by the unpopular and awkward Fern (Judy Greer). To win her silence, Courtney makes Fern in her own image, renaming her Vylette and allowing her to hang and commiserate with the most popular people in school. As Fern becomes intoxicated with her new-found power, Julie becomes more concerned with her friend's death, and Courtney spins a devious web of lies and trickery. Enter Detective Vera Cruz (Pam Grier), the only person who may be able to get to the bottom of the crime. But what does all this mean for the Prom?

Writer and director Darren Stein as obviously seen "Heathers" a good number of times. Like that classic film of teen angst, "Jawbreaker" is a dark comedy set in a high school, featuring an accidental murder of a popular student. While "Jawbreaker" is certainly more colorful than "Heathers", both in terms of set design and characters, it also comes off as a pale imitation. The students live their lives in near-vacuums, with parents showing up only occasionally, and then only as ineffective or ignorant. The impact of their actions on the community at large is only hinted at, and as a result, you never feel as if anything important in the reality of this film has ever happened.

That being said, the movie is still pretty sweet. Rose McGowan is cruel and calculating villain, terrifying in her powers of manipulation and contingency. Julie Benz is the perfect toadie, existing only to buoy Courtney's already swollen ego. Rebecca Gayheart's warm-natured Julie is a stark contrast to Courtney's "Satan-in-heels" persona, and Judy Greer is wonderful to watch as she goes from under-appreciated geek to power-mad diva. Pam Grier is, as always, a pleasure to watch, even if her role seems too small. The interactions between her and Rose McGowan are some of the highlights of the film. A good supporting cast also deserves mention, most notably Carol Kane as the slightly daffy school principal, Marilyn Manson as a seedy barfly, and Ethan Erickson as the dumb jock being relentlessly manipulated by Courtney's sex games.

While the script is full of caustic one-liners, it never succumbs to its own hipness. The characters are witty, but not nearly as unrealistically urbane as the characters in movies like "Scream." Some scenes and interactions come off as gratuitous, and to be sure there are a number of times when Stein really wants you to notice to how well he paid attention at film school. But there are a number of scenes that gain new meaning when analyzed in the larger scheme of the movie, and a repeat viewing may be in order to catch the full signifcance. You may sometimes get so distracted by the candy-colored schemes (McGowan's lips alone may send you into insulin shock) that you'll forget about the plot.

Some may see the movie as derivative, and there are certainly a large number of detractors. But taken on its own merits, "Jawbreaker" is a fun, giddily dark comedy that requires more than few licks to get to the bottom of. Just keep your consumption to a moderate amount, and you'll do fine. 7 out of 10.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Jawbreaker (1999)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
what happens to rose mcgowan at the end of the movie? zackster511
Ever have someone die in your high school? down-2-earth
How come noone realized that it was really Fern cheyenne_demus
Is that you, young Wilson? (Robert Sean Leonard) dead_pinklet
courtney kinda sort of really did mean to kill liz joanna164
Whos hotter Courtney, Marcy, Julie or Liz blithing2
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