Jawbreaker (1999)

Director:

Darren Stein

Writer:

Darren Stein (writer)

Release Date:

19 February 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

The sweetest candies are sour as death inside.

Plot:

Three of the most popular girls at Reagan High accidentally kill the prom queen with a jaw-breaker when a kidnapping goes horribly wrong.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Best Friend | Popular Girl | Dead | Geek

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Alexandra Adi	...	Cheerleader #1
Tatyana Ali	...	Brenda
Joni Allen	...	Make-Up Monger #1
Charlotte Ayanna	...	Liz Purr (as Charlotte Roldan)
Julie Benz	...	Marcie Fox
Marita Black	...	Dreamsperson #1
Billy Butler	...	High School Stud
Chad Christ	...	Zack
Claudine Claudio	...	Drama Student #2
Jeff Conaway	...	Marcie's Father
Jane Leigh Connelly	...	Wannabe #2 (as Jane Connelly)
Ethan Erickson	...	Dane Sanders
Vylette Fagerholm	...	Make-Up Monger #2
Brian Gattas	...	Drama Student #1
Rebecca Gayheart	...	Julie Freeman

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, language and violence, all involving teens.

Runtime:

87 min | Germany:78 min | Argentina:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Iceland:12 | USA:R (certificate #36269) | Australia:M | France:-12 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 (video premiere) | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Argentina:16 | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Crossroads Films

Trivia:

Writer/director Darren Stein intentionally cast older actresses as the high school leads as an homage to films like Grease (1978) and Carrie (1976), which seemed to use actresses who were clearly in their mid-twenties.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Julie and Courtney talk in the cafeteria, Julie's hair is alternately covering/not covering her ears between shots.

Quotes:

Courtney: We just killed our best friend! Do you realize what this means?
Marcie: You're a shoo-in for prom queen?

Movie Connections:

References Carrie (1976)

Soundtrack:

Water Boy

I laughed. It had more character than Scream.

When I saw Jawbreaker I thought it was a fresh approach to revisiting the high school genre. It doesn't have to live up to the classics. It admittedly admires them. Jawbreaker shows some killer breakout performances from Rebecca, Julie, and Judy. And Rose will be immortalized for this role whether she likes it or not. (Tip: See it, because this might be the last time Rose performs one like this. She's soaring to stardom.) The young girls and guys, the fresh faces, not too much violence (I'm sick of teen movies that are overly gory), and hilariously creative dialogue make it well worth seeing. Be in the mood for high school-comedy-fun and escape to it. It's a movie, like a jawbreaker is a candy. I think that last scene at the prom will live in our memories as long as an everlasting gobstopper. GREAT stretched-out Rose faces. Classic! The screening I attended got a huge laugh, and people enjoyed it.