Butler's Cinema Scene

John Turturro

“THE JESUS ROLLS” My rating: C+

85 minutes | MPAA rating: R

The lavender-loving, sexually ambiguous bowling fanatic Jesus Quintana appears for only five minutes in the Coen Brothers’ “The Big Lebowski.”

But “the Jesus” — portrayed by John Turturro with machismo-spewing relish — apparently has enough of an enduring fan base that 22 years later we get “The Jesus Rolls,” a sort-of toss-off sequel written and directed by Turturro.

Basically this is one big criminal road trip.  Jesus (Turturro, naturally), recently released from prison, is met by his old buddy Petey (Bobby Cannavale) and together they go on a car-stealing spree, accompanied by a soundtrack of furious flamenco guitar.

Along the way they explore the joys of three-way sex, first with a ditzy hairdresser named Marie (Audrey Tautou…yes, “Amelie”) and later with an older woman portrayed by Susan Sarandon (more of that later). There is a fair amount of nudity…much of it involving the two leading men’s derrières.

The tone here is one of comic goofiness fueled by Jesus and Petey’s bone-headed banter.  Nothing even vaguely resembling a plot emerges; what we get is a series of vignettes, at least one of which is quietly heartbreaking.

Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou, John Turturro

“The Jesus Rolls” also serves as a sort of celebrity “Where’s Waldo?” The film is crammed with familiar faces (Christopher Walken, Pete Davidson, Jon Hamm, J.B. Smoove, Tim Blake Nelson, Michael Badalucco, Gloria Ruben and, perhaps most memorably, Sonia Braga as Jesus’ mama, who is still turning tricks in her late ’60s).

The light-hearted tone turns serious only once. Late in the film our roving rogues pick up an older woman (Sarandon) just released from prison and treat her to a night of sexual exploration. This segment could have been simply offensive, but Sarandon delivers  a gut-clutching depiction of weariness and ennui that briefly elevates the material into something sublime.

The credits inform us that Turturro based his screenplay on the 1974 French film “Going Places,” described by the late great Roger Ebert as “the most misogynistic movie I can remember.”

“The Jesus Rolls” comes perilously close to earning that label for itself. But as depicted by Turturro and Cannavale, Jesus and Petey are less predators than bumblers.  If anything, they serve at the whim of Tautou’s perky gal pal, who is delighted to have two guys striving to please her.

In the end “The Jesus Rolls” is a quirky diversion. Nothing more.

| Robert W. Butler