I'm a Juvenile Delinquent, Jail Me!

UK 2004
produced by
Sol Papadopoulos, Karen Johnson (executive) for Hurricane Films/BBC
directed by Alex Cox
starring James Stone, Gary Molyneux, Ben Molyneux, Nicholas McGrane, Paisley Reid, Barry Sloane, Neil Fitzmaurice, Carla Henry, Shaun Mason, Christine Tremarco, Andrew Schofield, Sarah Wilkinson, Claire O'Regan, Jenny Ward, Tod Davies, John Aggie, Anthony Dorrs, Tobin Jones, Nick Hanson, Chris Bernard, Alex Cox, Sam Moffat, Michael Roberts, Gary Everett, Paul Cowperthwaite, Sol Papadopoulos, Lynn Papadopolous, Roy Boulter, Lynn Beers, Kathy Fletcher, Ashley Gorman, Rob Rankin, Matt Pollard, Patrick Graham, Carl Leamond, Sean Halligan, Paul Cole, Rachel Lewinski, Sue Baine, Shirley Xuecileng, Mrs.Xuecileng, Kenny Chan, Mrs.McGrane, Mr.McGrane, Chris Cooper, Aminah Vickers, Stephen Abbey
written by Tod Davies, music by Pete Wylie

review by
Mike Haberfelner

TV has a new hit show: I'm a Juvenile Delinquent, Jail Me!, a reality show in which five teenagers from various social backgrounds (James Stone, Gary Molineux, Ben Molineux, Nicholas McGrane, Paisley Reid) - whose identity is obscured of course - are seen committing all sorts of crimes, from blowing up phone booths to robbing museums. The show makes its two air-headed presenters Piers (Barry Sloane) and Dean (Neil Fitzmaurice) stars, while Bette (Carla Henry), the actual creator/producer of the show feels less and less appreciated and eventually gets the feeling her original concept has been perverted in order to get higher ratings. Fact is, the show becomes so popular that soon enough, every channel in the country comes up with a similar show.

Eventually, the show falls onto Piers and Dean's head when CCCTV, the production company of I'm a Juvenile Delinquent, Jail Me!, is to be sold to an American extremely right wing company, which would mean big money, really big money - but suddenly the show is standing in the sale's way ... so Piers and Dean are abducted by CCCTV's board of directors and forced to bring them a scapegoat - and fearing for their own heads, Piers and Dean decide to sacrifice the kids. This would mean life sentences for four of the kids - but one could have a media career.

Bette, caring for the kids despite of everything, soon lures them away to a new series, but CCCTV tries to track them down anyways, going directly to their school, trying to lure them out into the open with promising them the chance of a media career - and four life sentences - and all the kids at the school are so taken by a media frenzy that they claim to be the kids on TV just to get their 15 minutes of fame.

This happens when director Alex Cox makes a half-hour television program for schoolchildren: A sharp yet hilarious media satire, taking on everything from reality TV to big American media conglomerates - that despite everything remains totally comprehensible to a young audience and refrains from being preachy in any way. And the whole thing is intelligent enough to entertain an adult audience as well and sharper than most adult satire anyways - and Cox actually claimed he made this film with a schoolkid-audience in mind because BBC's dramadepartment wouldn't touch it ...

Pretty good, actually, and deserving more exposure than it presently has - so maybe you should go to YouTube and watch it.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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