Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Jimmy Stewart fan. The Philadelphia Story – with Stewart, Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn – is close to being a perfect film. I love Rear Window. I’m not a fan of Vertigo, but that’s one of his best-known films. And of course, ‘tis the season for It’s a Wonderful Life, one of the all-time great Christmas movies. One of the most famous pieces of lore about It’s a Wonderful Life is that it was Jimmy Stewart’s first big leading role since he was a fighter pilot in Europe during World War II. He actually enlisted before Pearl Harbor, which I just learned from his Wiki. All of this would make a good movie in and of itself, right? Well, that’s what they did. Only it looks TERRIBLE. KJ Apa stars as Jimmy Stewart, and yes, he’s doing the voice. But it sounds and looks like a spoof film.
I’ll say some nice stuff… I bet the voice isn’t as jarring when you get used to it and/or become absorbed in the story. I actually think Apa studied Stewart’s movements and how he carried himself, because he’s doing a decent job mimicking Stewart’s physicality. But yeah… this looks like a low-budget bio-pic that someone made for Lifetime twenty years ago.
A weird sidenote: I looked up the cast on IMDB and they don’t have anyone playing Donna Reed?? One of the best pieces of It’s A Wonderful Life lore is that Stewart was so emotionally raw from the war, he was nervous about his big kissing scene with Donna Reid. Apparently, he was so passionate in the kissing scene that the censors forced them to cut some of it!! Yeah, he looked like he was going to swallow her whole, I can imagine that the uncensored version is even hotter. I guess that’s not making it into Jimmy! Too bad.
Poster & screengrab courtesy of ‘Jimmy’.
I think you have to be careful when doing a film about a famous actor. Especially one with such a distinct style and voice. This comes across as a caricature and not acting to me. It’s like when people play Marylin Monroe and do too much baby voice.
It just doesn’t look good but maybe it isn’t terrible.
I wonder if the voice is AI. There is something very off about it,
This is such odd casting to me. I can think of a ton of young actors that would want to play Jimmy and they go with KJ Apa? And it’s getting a theatrical release?
My husband and I watched the trailer last night, and I totally thought it was a spoof movie. Rob Riggle is in the trailer, as like a military guy, but he’s also a comedian, which added to my confusion
I come from Kansas City, which is where Rob Riggle comes from, and where we’re from, Riggle is known for his military service almost as much as he’s known for his entertainment career.
Yes, I love his personal story. Also, he did a stand up special at some point that was hilarious.
Stewart and jean arthur had great chemistry in the films you can’t take it with you and mr Smith goes to Washington. Ginger rogers was first choice for the role of mary in its a wonderful life and turned it down. She regretted turning the role down some years later. Ginger had dated Stewart in the thirties.
I really like most of Jimmy’s work. People think of his career as playing a good man but some of his most interesting stuff is when he plays with his persona and was cast against it.
I think KJ’s interpretation of his voice is pretty good but it is everything else that looks bad. It looks so cliched.
I like watching Stewart movies on Turner classic movies. In one of his early films he played a villain. And he also sang and danced with eleanor Powell
The actor has more of a resemblance to Henry fonda imo
The difference between Stewart’s pre- and post-war performances are stark, to say the least. Vertigo, Winchester 73, and It’s A Wonderful Life make you wonder what the heck he saw during his fighter-pilot tour to convey such emotional devastation. 😳😞
There was that, but I also think there were directors who saw his ability to play darker, more neurotic characters. Hitchcock certainly did.
He was spetacular in Vertigo.
I don’t think the voice is bad at all. Maybe it’s cause I grew up near Indiana, PA. I think any actor is damned if they do and damned if they don’t when it comes to playing Jimmy.
I saw the trailer for this last night too. It seems like Apa is giving a pretty good performance, nailing the voice, etc. And it should make for an interesting story. But maybe they just need to tweak the trailer or something, because it doesn’t come across as a serious movie. It feels like a WWII-era movie starring Jimmy Stewart instead of a movie about Jimmy Stewart, if that makes sense.