Jagged Mind Review

Jagged Mind review.

Hulu brings us a time loop movie that works better as a commentary on the characters who don’t know they’re in the loop than as a narrative of its own.

New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.

Jagged Mind

Directed by Kelley Kali

Written by Allyson Morgan

Starring Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Shannon Woodward, Rosaline Elbay, Kate Szekely and Jimmy Jean-Louis

Jagged Mind Review

You may remember a video that circulated the internet several years back that cut the movie Groundhog Day from the perspective of Andie MacDowell’s character Rita.  Rita doesn’t experience the constant loops that Bill Murray’s character does.  He goes through days and weeks and months of character growth.  She only retains the memory of the last loop.  Through her eyes…she sees a deeply flawed person who she does not care for become a completely different person literally overnight.  Red flag, Rita.  Red flag.

Knowingly or not…Jagged Mind takes this idea and runs with it.  Billie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) meets a woman at a bar and begins a relationship with her.  Unbeknownst to her, the woman (Alex, played by Shannon Woodward) resets time to ensure every interaction goes perfectly.  If that sounds like what Bill Murray does to Andie MacDowell…you aren’t alone.  Billie is living out a perfect relationship…based on the ultimate lie.  Her health and memory are in grave danger if she doesn’t discover what Alex is doing and break the loop.

The how of it all is the weakest aspect of Jagged Mind.  It involves a crystal and blood and a box you can hide things in that won’t be affected by the loop resetting.  Basically, a bunch of necessary devices to move plot forward.  It’s fine…just don’t go into your viewing hoping for some cool reason this is all possible.  Or even one that makes a lick of sense.

The good news is that the MacGuffin doesn’t matter here.  What does matter is that Jagged Mind has a lot of interesting things to say about time loops.  Namely, their effect on the people viewing them from the outside.  Although the movie shows us some of the loops before Alex resets them…it does a great job of putting us into Billie’s point of view.  The feeling that things are too good to be true.  The odd sensation that you’ve known someone you just met for a long time.  Jagged Mind deals with a very specific type of horror.  That nothing you know is true.  Everything you experience isn’t real.

These glimpses of the world before Alex resets it also let us see what Billie barely suspects.  Alex is a monster.  Alex resets the world whenever an interaction with Billie doesn’t go exactly as she wants it to.  Usually because Alex lets her mask slip and shows the insensitive, selfish monster that she truly is.  She genuinely believes that what she is doing is right.  That she can give Billie a perfectly crafted life.  Billie laments the fact that the two never fight (at least that she can remember) because it prevents her from seeing the real Alex.  She doesn’t know how right she is.

Billie’s mind is being torn apart by Alex’s manipulation.  She experiences flashes of lost memories that don’t make sense to her.  Repeated hospital visits make clear that there is a limit to how many times Billie can survive Alex’s loops. 

Richardson-Sellers and Woodward are terrific as the troubled (to say the least) couple.  Woodward has a dual role of the perfect version of Alex that Billie sees and the one that we, occasionally, get to see.  Her Alex is terrifying in a personal and specific way.  Richardson-Sellers gives a fine turn as Jagged Mind’s hero.  She’s easy to root for throughout her investigation of the ordeal.  You desperately want her to figure out what Alex is doing to her. 

Which brings us to the biggest issue with Jagged Mind.  The MacGuffin might not be a deal breaker…but it does lead to a climax and ending that isn’t as satisfying as the examination of time loops that precede it.  It’s a little silly, to be honest.  The choices that it makes at the end of the story are questionable as well…perhaps even problematic.

Still, Jagged Mind is a real treat for fans of time loop movies.  It looks at them in a way that other entries in the genre have failed to.  For Rita, Groundhog Day should be a horror movie…not a romantic comedy.  Jagged Mind is that movie.

Scare Value

Jagged Mind will appeal to fans of time loop movies (and who isn’t) due to the interesting things it has to say about the characters you don’t usually think about. As its own story…it’s not as interesting. The acting is top notch and it’s a well-made film. The central story just isn’t quite as interesting as what the movie has to say about the concept. The latter is enough to recommend hitting play on, however.

3/5

Jagged Mind Link

Streaming on Hulu

Jagged Mind Trailer

If you enjoyed this review of Jagged Mind, check out another new release: Brooklyn 45, Mad Heidi, The Barn Part II, Motion Detected or Something Walks in the Woods