'Lonesome Jim' finds grins in chronic despair

"Lonesome Jim" is a slight, but amusing and occasionally touching, dark comedy about depression and dysfunction that percolates with indie film hipness — right down to the ironically forlorn, harmonica-driven score by pianist and composer Evan Lurie.

IFC Films 'Lonesome Jim' B The verdict: Hipster Steve Buscemi directs an indie comedy about depression and dysfunction. Director: Steve Buscemi Starring: Liv Tyler, Casey Affleck, Mary Kay Place, Kevin Corrigan, Seymour Cassel Run time: 87 minutes Release date: March 24, 2006 Rating: R for language, some sexuality and drug content. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Lonesome Jim'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Director Steve Buscemi, of the bug eyes and twisted teeth, is best known for his standout roles in such quirky-cool movies as "Ghost World" and the Coen Brothers' "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski." But he's also become pretty darn good behind the camera, from his 1996 full-length feature debut, "Trees Lounge," to some recent episodes of "The Sopranos."

Buscemi directs "Lonesome Jim" with the same deadpan sensibility and instinct for odd details he brings to his acting. And he places the solid ensemble cast in a sort of hypernatural space that at times recalls the films of John Cassavetes and Mike Leigh. Similarly, the autobiographical first-time script by writer-cartoonist James C. Strouse is structured on little glimpses of the malaise and madness of everyday life, as seen through the eyes of the title character.

Casey Affleck (younger bro of Ben) plays Jim, a prodigal son returned to rural Indiana from a sojourn in NYC, where he went to become a writer but made his bones as a dog walker. Jim describes his condition as "chronic despair." And though he's a jobless 27-year-old with sexual problems and a repertoire of nervous tics, he's not the biggest loser in his family.

"I'm a mess," Jim tells his divorced, layabout older brother, Tim (Kevin Corrigan), "but you're a disaster." And Tim responds by wrapping his car around a tree in a failed suicide attempt.

"What did we do to make you kids so unhappy?" wonders Jim's cloyingly cheerful mother (the wonderfully kooky Mary Kay Place).

"I don't know," Jim answers. "Maybe some people just shouldn't be parents."

That includes Jim's sourpuss father (Seymour Cassel). But not Anika (Liv Tyler), a sweet but pretty vacant nurse and divorced mom who offers Jim free-and-easy sex in a hospital bed and, ultimately, solace for his troubled soul.

"Lonesome Jim" is a decidedly small movie, obviously made with a limited budget. And too often its pervasive minimalist tone is a poor substitute for the subtleties of story and character. That's particularly unfortunate in the case of Affleck, whose grumblings and groanings frequently seem to be emanating from a somnambulist rather than a depressive. But fans of Buscemi and his kind of films will find plenty to grin about.