Absolutely Fantastic

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

I enjoyed "Jerry and Tom" quite a bit. The acting and character development is great. Joe Mantegna, Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Charles Durning, Peter Riegert, and others, contribute their talents. The car lot fronting for a murder for hire business is intriguing but the attempts at black comedy mostly misfire, probably due to the very grim motivation of the contract killers. If on the other hand they had been partners saving their blood money to constantly keep expanding the automobile business, that would have lifted this black comedy to greatness, simply by making the plot more outrageous. Financing a restaurant, just by killing people, worked wonders for "Eating Raoul" and that is what is missing here. - MERK

Worth renting, but not buying.The plot is absolutely, 100%, stone-cold predictable simply from the premise. Still, Rubinek does an excellent job with his main gimmick for the film...smooth, seamless scene transitions between different time periods and geographic locations. They are worth waiting for.The movie is a black comedy, but I didn't really find much humor in the wry situations. I'm not sure if they were not-enough or a little-too-much.Mantegna goes a bit overboard in playing the laid-back "button man" as part-philosopher and part-salesman, but he does an adequate job. Sam Rockwell fares better as the kid who grows into the profession, enjoying it a bit more than he probably should. His desire to do something in a way that's "different" reminds me of a newly-wed couple looking for that new sexual position.Durning is wasted in his role, as we never take him seriously as a threat to anyone, much less as a stone-cold killer. Chaykin fares better as a basically inscrutable "boss" who pulls the strings through some sort of managerial fog.The cameos by Macy and Danson are good, but a bit strained. We're so busy watching them as victims in inescapable circumstances that we don't keep them in the proper perspective. The bit parts they play are overwhelmed by our expectations.I enjoyed the movie, but, if you really want an interesting take on the "old hit-man bringing along a younger guy", try ,"Cohen & Tate" (1989), which I find has much more interesting dynamics between the protagonists.

jerry and tom is a film for those who enjoy films, not movies. it's creative in it's execution, has a great consistent cast and it's a directorial debut for saul rubinek to boot.the film takes the viewer on a ten year trip through various events of a seasoned hit man and his apprentice. save the initial time card "ten years earlier" this film does not give you a temporal setting. instead it leaves the audience to participate in the film and do a little time-based investigative work (it's refreshing to see the director give a little bit of credit to the audience to use the brain they've been given).there are lots of long takes and inventive transition shots (one single take, for example, will go from a sunny and hot florida dog race to a snow covered chicago used car dealership without flinching...you have to see it to fully understand it) that may be missed on the average viewer. but if you have an eye for something fresh, Jerry and Tom should not be over looked.Some viewers apparently have issues with the "blue language" contained within but the fact is that some people swear and some people swear alot! this isn't the first film to use the infamous "f word" and this is by far not the worst case of such words in a film.As well, violence and bloodshed has become normal in society, it's unfortunate and true, don't blame this film for prompting "teen-agers to open fire on their classmates." (unless you can name a specific instance during a school shooting where the killer cried out "this is for jerry and tom!!") if anything Jerry and Tom is an apt commentary on how absurd society has come in its response to violence.watch jerry and tom and decide for yourself, don't just go by what some imdb user has said...that goes for my comments as well

A tedious, dialogue-intensive story about the vicissitudes of a mentor/protege hitman team, "Jerry & Tom" is a study in understatement with a pointless plot and an ending which may make you want to "whack" yourself for having watched the whole thing.