“A UFO has crashed in my backyard and has taken out my azaleas and has destroyed my bird bath,” announces 78-year-old widower, Milton (Ben Kingsley), at the Boonton, Pennsylania town-hall meeting.
This leaves the town-folk rather nonplussed, since normally Milton goes on about changing the town’s slogan from “A great place to call home,” to “A great place to refer to as home” (because the original iteration can be easily be construed as a place that one can call one’s home from, on the telephone).
Milton (Ben Kingsley) and an outer-space visitor (Jade Quon), in "Jules." (Bleecker Street)
Milton’s other favorite thing to talk about is the dire need for a crosswalk on Trent Avenue so as to prevent 1) pedestrian jay-walking, and 2) pedestrian death.
Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) suggests bringing in a muralist, and Joyce (Jane Curtin) complains about the town’s dearth of pickleball courts. It’s that kind of sleepy little town.
UFO Crash Landing!
So, indeed—Milton’s become an unwilling host to a small, silver-ish humanoid who’s classic saucer-shaped ship has skidded to a stop in his back yard, and who eats only apple slices.
Sandy, concerned that Milton’s losing his mind, gets in on the secret, names the alien “Jules” and gifts it her daughter’s shirt, which has an environmentalist message. There’s another t-shirt with a message that will be highly divisive for audiences.
Joyce comes sniffing around, spies the alien, and is included in the secret-alien club, although at first Milton’s not having it. “She shouldn’t know!” he says. “We’ve got to trust her; there’s nothing else we can do,” says Sandy. Milton: “We can kill her.” Joyce: “Kill me? You can’t kill me. I’ll kill you; that’s what I’ll do!” They all agree they’ve got no choice. But Joyce prefers to call the E.T. Gary.
(L–R) Ben Kingsley, Jane Curtin, and Harriet Sansom Harris star in "Jules." (Bleecker Street)
The elderly trio eventually find themselves on the same page—they will help their E.T. friend get home. And as I write this, the penny drops: This is why Milton would like to change the town slogan! Because Boonton is not a good place for E.T. to phone home! Brilliant stuff.
Other Stuff
Milton’s daughter Denise (Zoë Winters) thinks it’s probably time for dad to move into assisted living; she’s found a can of green beans in dad’s bathroom medicine cabinet, and a newspaper in the freezer. Denise pulls a bait-and-switch to get him to see a doctor for a mental evaluation, which makes Milt mad.
(L–R) Joyce (Jane Curtin), Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) Milton (Ben Kingsley), and their new alien friend (Jade Quon), in "Jules." (Bleecker Street)
Meanwhile, some government agency (could be the FBI but could also be MIB (Men in Black) is eavesdropping on Milton’s phone conversations, and a couple of men in black eventually track down Milton’s home, looking for a “crashed satellite.” But we know why they’re really there.
More Stuff
The E.T. is played by Hollywood stuntwoman Jade Quon, obviously under heavy prosthetics. The E.T. is revealed to have a supernormal power whereby if its head turns blue, and then yellow, look out, because somebody else’s head might explode. The superpower is used here for good—Sandy is at one point interrogated by detectives. After calling 911 about a con-man who cons his way into Sandy’s home for purposes of burglary, the cops find a guy with an exploded head. All off-camera. It’s a very lightweight movie.
Since E.T. makes drawings of cats all the time, they realize it needs seven cats to repair its spaceship, and they collaborate on a cat-finding spree. Some are road-kill. Some are pieces of road-kill. And so the seniors struggle with the long-forgotten ability off adding fractions—the kitty-fractions necessary to come up with seven full cats. Joyce sacrifices the cat she stopped taking to the vet a year ago, who doesn’t move much anymore.
Overall
(L–R) Joyce (Jane Curtin), Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) and Milton (Ben Kingsley) watch as their alien friend departs planet earth, in "Jules." (Bleecker Street)
Director Turtletaub has made a pleasant, slow-paced movie with low tension and few surprises.There are a few chuckles and a teency-weency bit of drama. The finale is “Cocoon”-like. What’s the overall message? Be kind to aliens, because you never know when you might need to have someone’s head exploded? We are not alone in the universe? Don’t rule out roadkill as a renewable energy source? I’m not sure. Your guess is as good as mine.
Movie poster for "Jules." (Bleecker Street)
‘Jules’
Director: Marc Turtletaub
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Jane Curtin, Zoë Winters, Jade Quon
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Release Date: Aug. 11, 2023
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for The Epoch Times. In addition to the world’s number-one storytelling vehicle—film, he enjoys martial arts, weightlifting, Harley-Davidsons, vision questing, rock-climbing, qigong, oil painting, and human rights activism. Mark earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by a classical theater training, and has 20 years’ experience as a New York professional actor, working in theater, commercials, and television daytime dramas. He recently narrated the Epoch Times audiobook “How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World,” which is available on iTunes and Audible. Mr. Jackson is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
