The Two Perfect Jennifer Jason Leigh Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Jennifer Jason Leigh came from a showbiz family. Her father was Vic Morrow, a prolific film and TV actor who starred in the series “Combat!” Her mother was Barbara Turner who acted in many TV shows throughout the ’50s and ’60s, and who wrote the screenplays for “Petulia,” “Cujo,” “Georgia,” and “Pollock.” Leigh started attending acting workshops when she was still a teenager, studying with Lee Strasberg. At age 16, she started to land her first professional acting gigs, appearing in an episode of “Baretta,” and in the film “The Young Runaways.” In 1981, she caught the public’s eye playing a young woman battling anorexia in the TV movie “The Best Little Girl in the World,” but it wasn’t until her role in 1982’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” that the world took proper notice. 

After that, Leigh was an actress to look out for. Her intense performances always lend a grounded clarity to the movies she was in, and she was capable of giving both understated and over-the-top performances; Leigh appeared as killers and weirdos in several films throughout the ’80s and ’90s. Leigh’s career is so expansive and textured, that it’s hard to pin down her best performance. Personally, I think she was amazing in Ulu Grosbard’s 1995 music film “Georgia,” the film she produced, and that her mother wrote, and late sister served as a technical advisor on. Her co-star, Mare Winningham deserved her Oscar nomination for “Georgia,” but it’s an injustice that Leigh herself didn’t receive one. 

Leigh is seemingly selective about the projects she involves herself in, and tends to appear in complex, adult dramas or wild, fun horror; you won’t see Leigh in too many whimsically disposable Hollywood blockbusters. Most recently, she appeared in Chris Pine’s directorial debut “Poolman” and played one of the lead characters on the fifth season of “Fargo.”

Measuring by her films’ approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though, Leigh has two “perfect” films: 1996’s “Bastard Out of Carolina” and 2019’s “Sid & Judy.”

Based on the 1992 novel by Dorothy Allison, “Bastard Out of Carolina” is one of only two films directed by the amazing Anjelica Houston, who was making her directorial debut at the time. In the film, Leigh played Anney Boatwright, the unmarried twentysomething mother of Ruth Anne “Bone” Boatwright (Jena Malone). Bone had to traverse the personal struggles one encounters being the child of an unwed mother in 1950s South Carolina. This was still a time when the word “illegitimate” was stamped on newborns’ birth certificates if their mothers were unmarried. The film details the horrid cycle of physical and sexual abuse Bone suffers at the hands of her vicious stepfather Glen (Ron Eldard). Anney is alternately unaware of the abuse, and then quick to forgive when she finds out about it. Bone finds solace with aunts and uncles, trying to flee Glen as often as possible. 

“Bastard Out of Carolina” only has nine reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but they are all positive. The film didn’t receive too many reviews because it was broadcast on cable TV. In the 1990s, there was still something of a stigma surrounding TV movies, and many critics and news outlets considered them to be outside their cinematic purview. Never mind that incredibly talented actors were turning in some incredibly daring work. Leigh is only a supporting player, but her character is complex. How much abuse is she willing to withstand — and invite upon her daughter — in exchange for the outward propriety of being a 1950s housewife with “a good husband” at home? 

The film was nominated for several Emmys, winning Best Casting. In addition to Leigh, Malone, and Eldard, “Bastard Out of Carolina” also starred Glenne Headly, Lyle Lovett, Dermot Mulroney, Christina Ricci, Grave Zabriskie, and Michael Rooker. Laura Dern played the grown version of Bone, who narrated. 

In 2019, documentarian Stephen Kijak made a film about the relationship Judy Garland had with her third husband and longtime manager, Sidney Luft. The film was based largely on Luft’s memoir, and he recalled, in detail, the addictions and mental health issues that Garland struggled with. It was Luft who helped produce one of Garland’s best movies, the 1954 version of “A Star is Born,” which got her an Academy Award. Kijak was already known for his documentaries about the bands X, the Rolling Stones, and the Backstreet Boys. He also did a fantastic film in 2006 about Scott Walker, and most recently directed a retrospective on the personal life of Rock Hudson. 

“Sid & Judy” was well-received by critics when it was released on Showtime. Like “Bastard Out of Carolina,” though, it wasn’t widely reviewed, having only eight on Rotten Tomatoes. All eight are positive, though. Jude Dry, writing for IndieWire, said that the film was deeply sympathetic toward Garland, but also careful to keep her on the hook for her transgressions. Stephen Dalton, writing for the Hollywood Reporter, felt the film was insightful and surprisingly brisk. The general critical consensus was that “Sid & Judy” humanized Garland, allowing her to be a person beyond her well-publicized personal problems. 

The film featured several letters and quotations from both Luft and Garland, dramatically read by Jon Hamm and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Leigh’s performance wasn’t central to “Sid & Judy,” but it sounds like it was appreciated. Leigh always brings a certain level of natural intensity to her roles, and that can be heard in some of her narrations. 

Leigh is currently filming the upcoming movies “Night Always Comes” with Vanessa Kirby and the star-studded “Crime 101” with Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, and Corey Hawkins.