Praise for Cloris Leachman’s Outstanding Final Role in Jump, Darling

By Linda Barnard

Rating: A-

In the what must be the most Canadian onscreen sex scene in ages, two men find joy to the lilting “Log Driver’s Waltz” by The Hidden Cameras in Jump, Darling.

It’s among the many delights in Toronto writer/director Phil Connell’s debut that features the brilliant Cloris Leachman in her last starring turn.

The film leans on a well-worn setup about a troubled grandson and his frail-but-feisty grandmother. But casting Leachman as Margaret and remarkable newcomer Thomas Duplessie as budding drag queen grandkid Russell propels Jump, Darling into the winner’s circle. Connell further comes through with a solid script sprinkled with often-delightful dialogue.

Read out interview with Jump, Darling’s Director and Co-Star

(Leachman, who died in January at age 94, has supporting roles in two unreleased films coming in 2021, but this is her final marquee role.)

With Margaret, there are echoes of Leachman’s Oscar-winning work as the isolated, depressed Ruth Popper in The Last Picture Show. But there’s even more of the wry delivery and perfect timing she brought to Phyllis Lindstrom in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and spinoff, Phyllis. While some of Margaret’s droll lines are laugh-out-loud funny, there’s also melancholy and regret at play in this authentic look at a once-powerful woman in mental and physical decline.

Margaret lives alone in a tidy house in rural Prince Edward County, Ontario. She’s fighting to stay there and fears her daughter Ene (Linda Kash) is planning to push her into a nursing home. The title comes from Margaret’s habit of using “darling” at the end of most exchanges.

She’s glad to see her grandson when he shows up to claim the car she once promised him. Russell, who performs drag as Fishy Falters, has dreams of hanging up his wigs to become an actor. When he flames out before his big drag debut and his boyfriend dumps him, maybe the time is right for some grandma-funded reinvention.

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Not long after Russell arrives, he’s ready to hit the road. “How very efficient,” Margaret deadpans.

Stopped short by Margaret’s decline, Russell decides to stick around. He starts performing at a local gay bar, helping Margaret stand up to waspish Jeanne (Jayne Eastwood), who has her reasons for insisting her long-lost pal come to her next bridge night. Margaret’s reluctance is one of a few secrets grandmother and grandson are keeping from each other.

Of course, a movie about drag performers has to have at least one big number. Jump, Darling has a half-dozen outstanding ones. You can’t take your eyes of the lithe and charismatic Duplessie, whose character uses performances to deal with anger and issues. Duplessie blows the roof off the place with an incendiary version of Rough Trade’s “High School Confidential,” another sweet kiss of CanCon.

Real-life drag stars Fay Slift, Miss Fiercealicious and Canada’s Drag Race contestant Tynomi Banks also appear.

The film ends with a memorial: “In loving memory of Cloris Leachman 1926-2021.” For a woman who spent seven decades as a working actor, her exceptional turn in Jump, Darling is a worthy parting gift to us.

To read Bonnie Laufer’s Q&A with director Phil Connell and co-star Thomas Duplessie, click HERE.

Jump, Darling. Written and directed by Phil Connell. Starring Cloris Leachman, Thomas Duplessie, Linda Kash and Jayne Eastwood. Starts streaming March 9 on Apple, Google Play and VOD through levelFILM.