JCVD

Impressions before seeing it
I am not a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme. The only other movie of his that I've seen was the atrocious (and occasionally funny) Street Fighter: The Movie, and I am under the impression that his entire career is basically a cheesefest (though good for a laugh, I'm sure.) I wanted to watch this movie because I knew it would be something completely different from the rest of his work.

How was it?
Okay, I have to give credit where credit is due: Van Damme was excellent in this. Even with his English lines, and a lot of English-as-a-second-language actors aren't very good in English (again, see his previous work). But if you had never heard of Van Damme at all and watched this movie, you might think he was a renowned and well respected actor. Maybe part of the reason his performance works so well is because it's so surprising, like part of a master plan to build up a false sense of mediocrity with years of hokey action flicks and then suddenly bust out an Oscar caliber performance.

Anyway, in JCVD our title actor plays himself as he goes into a bank for money for his child custody battle and is soon taken hostage by bank robbers, who then place him in front so that everyone outside thinks he is the crook taking hostages. That part reminded me of Amos and Andrew, but in this case it is revealed through some non-linear editing and multiple viewpoints so I didn't mind. On the other hand, the whole hostage situation wasn't many notches above average, but the movie turned out to have other redeeming qualities.

There is a scene during Van Damme's court case where his daughter, on the witness stand, says "Every time my dad is on a TV show, my friends make fun of me." My first reaction to that was to laugh, but it was also a very sad moment for his character, both personally and professionally, and most of all there is probably some truth to it. Later, Van Damme takes a little break to float up out of the movie (literally) and directly address the camera with a single-take monologue that is honest, personal, emotional, beautiful, and exceptionally delivered. Although I was enjoying the movie up to that point (I love me some French cinema!), the honesty of the monologue and his daughter's quote are what single-handedly saved it. You hear of actors poking fun at themselves in comedies all the time, but here Van Damme is simply poking.

Recommendation
I imagine some people would need an open mind to even want to watch this movie, or at least think they need one, but here Van Damme is not an action star, but an actor, and that makes all the difference. I would at least recommend looking up the monologue scene on Youtube.