Reminiscent of Gus VanSant’s My Own Private Idaho or Drugstore Cowboy, this movie traces the life of a hapless addict played by Crudup.  Having watched Almost Famous, I can now appreciate Crudup’s range of acting ability.  He does his best job in this video, and you really feel for him.  He wants to be liked, he wants to fit in, he wants to be straight and make it work with his pregnant girlfriend.  The viewing audience really wants him to make it too.  Apparently this type of movie is referred to as an ‘addiction drama’ coupled with the VanSant movies mentioned above and Trainspotting.  Funny that heroin abuse has its own movie genre.  Perhaps the current chic status of heroin is as alien to baby boomers as marijuana was to their parents.  How else to explain the fascination with the life and death of heroin addicts, because you know the plot from the start:  nice guy gets into the using the drug, has fun at first, eventually becomes nonfunctional and loses everything.  Kind of like watching Titanic, as you know what is coming but you watch for the special effects.  The thing that Jesus’ Son pulls off, unlike other addiction dramas, is Crudup’s portrayal of the everyman USA, i.e. we can relate to him because he is so normal to begin with.  That could happen to us, to me, to you, then, now, and in the future!  “There but for the grace of god go I,” comes to mind, creating an irresistible urge to see Crudup stop being a ‘fuckhead’ and lead a normal life.  However, we can see through Crudup’s eyes, and what must be the eyes of many a heroin users (former and current), that a normal life is pretty damn boring and uninspiring once you have lived it in an opiate high.  I give this movie four stars for engaging me so closely with the main character in order to make me think. 
Big Head Review  5/01