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91A reality-twisting cousin to "Being John Malkovich" -- showcases a Van Damme who's sly like a fox about his own image.
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83One of the best movies playing in Portland is, I kid you not, a loopy dramatic thriller starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
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78Post-JCVD, we'll never again be able to think of Van Damme as just another kickboxer turned actor. Van Damme is an actor, pure and simple, and proves that he is just as deft and accomplished as the movies in which he appears.
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75Van Damme says worse things about himself than critics would dream of saying, and the effect is shockingly truthful.
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75The film sags in the middle section, and it's more a novelty item than a fully formed work . But it's very entertaining. And Van Damme proves himself a brave, possibly foolhardy actor, which is more than Steven Seagal ever did.
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75JCVD juggles humor with whomping martial-arts moves and a kind of melancholy star turn from the melancholy, muscular star.
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75A shrewd satire about stardom and the cult of celebrity.
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75JCVD is a whimsical twist on the biopic, sending up heist movies and breaking cinematic rules to interesting effect. At a critical moment, Van Damme rises out of a tense hostage situation to look into the camera and speak movingly to the audience. He has never seemed more convincing.
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75JCVD may not be the first meta-musclehead movie, but it's certainly the most surprising.
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75Unlike "Being John Malkovich," which JCVD sometimes resembles, there is no secret portal to the star's head; instead, the audience gets a fleeting glimpse through the smeared window of his soul.
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75You'll respect him more as an actor if you see this film – and you should, even if you haven't enjoyed the action movies he's made over two decades.
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75An inspired melding of action thriller, satire and biographical drama through the looking glass of a funhouse mirror.
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JCVD should entertain both movie and action buffs. Van Damme proves once and for all that he's not just a set of glistening pectorals. However, he's still in no danger of being asked to play Hamlet.
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70Van Damme has been known as a martial-arts legend, movie star and pain in the ass. But never an actor -- until now.
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70A French-language meta-movie parody par excellence, constitutes the headiest stretch of the beefy star's career since, well, ever.
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Inventive, insightful and utterly surprising movie. It takes you places you're not prepared to go: namely, into the soul of a performer best known for flying back kicks. Who, by the way, can act.
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70This functions perfectly well as a Van Damme vehicle, but it's also a funny and poignant look at a man trapped by his own ridiculous reputation.
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67A canny piece of autobiography that looks at the man behind the legend and the legend behind the man.
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60Who knew? Turns out, Jean-Claude Van Damme is a funny guy, and a pretty good actor, too. Fans may already be aware of this, but JCVD is likely to introduce a whole new Van Damme to everybody else.
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60What exactly is JCVD? Comedy? Confession? Confusion? No one will ever mistake these backstage shenanigans for "Irma Vep." But as a self-regarding expression of masculine angst, it's a Damme sight more fun than "Synecdoche."
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The giddy near-brilliance of its central conceit is squandered by flat execution.
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50Van Damme's remarkable performance -- I say this in all seriousness -- comes pretty close to redeeming the picture's murky and overly complicated artistic intentions.
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50At one point, Van Damme delivers a long, tortured soliloquy about his alienating stardom to the camera in a single take. It's the most amazing piece of acting I've ever seen by a martial artist. But the film itself doesn't rise above the level of a good try.
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50Some of this is affecting, some of it tedious, and the film's inconsistencies of tone are made more glaring by its peculiar look.
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38Combines a sketch-comedy premise with pacing like a philosophy seminar.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 20 out of 22
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Mixed: 0 out of 22
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Negative: 2 out of 22
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JG10A very refreshing action movie, with a heartbreaking performance by Van Damme itself. The monologue's great!
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KatherineL10