Hesher

Catching Hesher was easily one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time. While it may not win any awards, it’s precisely the catharsis I didn’t know I needed.

I wasn’t sure I’d buy Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a hardcore, no-holds-barred tough guy, but not only did I buy it, I’d pay for it again. A good actor knows that the audience will go along with what he believes to be true; it’s clear that Levitt is – on some level – Hesher, though Levitt’s inherent and undeniable likeability helps to offset Hesher’s vulgarity. Still, Hesher is a side of Levitt we’ve never seen – reluctant rock and roll model whose path crosses with unlikely disciple T.J. (Devin Brochu). And really it’s T.J. who’s at the center of this story.

When a character starts out with a broken arm, you know things have not been going well; and for T.J. things just keep getting worse. It seems that T.J.’s nemesis, a grown up version of Chuckie from Rugrats, lives only to bully T.J. and add insult to his injuries. Surely a kid can’t be expected to properly mourn his mother’s death when he’s having his face shoved in a urinal at school. T.J. puts up a good front for his dad and grandmother at home, but no one should have to deal with that kind of stress alone. Not that Hesher is the friend T.J. needs, but his sudden arrival and persistent presence (Levitt’s footsteps take ‘plodding' to a new extreme) is enough to prompt a reaction from T.J.

Everyone deals with grief differently, but most of us recognize the point at which the only thing you can do is keep going. The characters in Hesher have all reached that point. Devin Brochu is exceptional as a young man on the cusp of adolescence, sporting a red sweatshirt like a miniature, contemporary James Dean. Rainn Wilson plays T.J.’s father, Paul Forney. His role suffers some neglect since his shadow of a man is the shell of an interesting character. Natalie Portman is everything I wished she would be in Garden State – homely and comely and real. And Hesher… well, “Hesher is the id run rampant” (Peter Travers for Rolling Stone), and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is magnetic in one of his most entertaining roles to date.

So. You can do nothing, like Paul Forney, or you can do something, like Hesher. I recommend Hesher.