Skip to main content

The Screen Queen Presents: The Incredible Jessica James


by Dana Muwwakkil

Jessica James is one dope chick and she knows it. Bursting with confidence and oozing raw, feminine, energy (as she puts it), Jessica is both funny and sharp. Played by the enchanting Jessica Williams, the character is a theater teacher who is well-loved by the students she inspires, but struggles to find the same recognition as a Big Apple playwright that she did in her hometown. When we meet her, we find that her dream of directing her own plays has been met with a series of rejection letters. Although she seemingly takes them in stride, rejection is one area of life that our lead feels a bit insecure about.

Still haunted by the ghost of a past relationship (she stalks her ex’s Instagram account), her love life also causes distress. While reluctantly agreeing to go on a blind date, she finds an intriguing connection with Boone (played by the charming Chris O’Dowd). The budding romance is adorable, but it’s not the main focus of Jessica’s life or her story.

A Netflix original that shies away from the generic formula of most romantic comedies, The Incredible Jessica James still serves up a little sweetness and lots of laughter. Both fun and smart with a lead as complex as she is vibrant, it is well worth adding to your queue.

Screen Queen Dana Muwwakkil tackles social trends and movies in her blog and for other publications. She, her husband and their three children live in Ulster County. This review originally appeared in the Jan/Feb 2018 Issue.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Movers and Shakers: Bettina "Poet Gold" Wilkerson

A rare talent that grabs you by the heart and says RECOGNIZE, poet, author, performer, songwriter, community “artivist” and speaker,  Bettina “Poet Gold” Wilkerson  pushes the boundaries of poetry and the spoken word. A Poet Gold performance is a journey through original prose, navigating all the lively, soul-brightening and thought-provoking feels she takes you through with each and every stanza, phrase and word. She paints pictures with her words about things like her grandmother’s cookware, the color blue or her coif that makes people sigh, smile, laugh and feel.  Named 2017 and 2018 Dutchess County Poet Laureate, she is a 2014 NYSCA Individual Artist Tier Grant Awardee for the Mid-Hudson region and a 2016 Athena honoree. She has worked with world-renowned organizations and authors to craft and convey their story in poetic form. She has opened for MC Lyte and Lauryn Hill for “A Tribute to the ladies of Hip-Hop” as well as with “The Voice” Season II winner Jermaine Pa

Movers & Shakers: Charise Isis and "The Grace Project"

Calling Kingston home, Charise Isis is an artist who specializes in portrait, boudoir and pin-up photography. Her work challenges our culture's standards of beauty by allowing women of all different ages, body types, ethnicities and in varying transitional phases of life to be able to express courage, strength, sensuality, depth, individual and unique beauty. Her work has been exhibitied widely both nationally and internationally in solo exhibits and public and private collections at galleries such as the Michael Mazzeo Gallery in New York City; The Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts; The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, the Photographers Network Collection in Seigen, Germany; the Center for Photography at Woodstock; and CPW’s Permanent Print Collection at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (New Paltz). She is also the genius behind  The Grace Project , a photographic exhibition series that aims to reveal the courage, beauty and grace of women who have

Odds & Ends March/April 2018

Picking Up the Pieces Everything old can be made new again. Or at least it can be made different. Such is the premise of Unshattered – a nonprofit social enterprise where women who are winning their battle against addiction make handbags and other products out of repurposed items and other materials. Having completed the recovery program at the Walter Hoving Home - a Garrison residential rehabilitation center for women overcoming alcoholism, drug and other addictions - the women of Unshattered use high-quality, donated materials to make beautifully useful products, and express themselves creatively. The organization’s mission is to help the women find a path forward to economic independence and sustained sobriety, which is done by helping them gain skills as bag designers, seamstresses, salespeople, production and office managers, and design specialists to prepare for their futures. Proceeds form the sales of the products funnel back into Hoving Home programs. Unshatte