Although he’s not onscreen for very long, Jesus Quintana is one of the more inspired characters in the Coen brothers’ 1998 comedy “The Big Lebowski.” The Coens reportedly allowed actor John Turturro to build up the character with his own flourishes, leading to his memorable moments menacing Jeff Bridges’ Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski.” Clad in a purple jumpsuit, Quintana, a convicted sex offender, licked his bowling ball as a pre-roll ritual and threatened the Dude and bowling partner Walter Sobchack (John Goodman) in advance of a bowling league showdown.
The Coens declined to revisit those characters or that story, but they allowed Turturro to use Jesus Quintana in his own movie. The result is “The Jesus Rolls,” released Feb. 28 and running through Thursday at Zeitgeist Lounge & Theater.
Turturro has appeared in many Spike Lee films, and the Coens' "Miller's Crossing," "Barton Fink" and "O Brother Where Art Thou." He also wrote and directed "Romance and Cigarettes" and "Fading Gigolo."
It’s hard to believe a filmmaker would want to take a character out of “The Big Lebowski” and endure having a film forever compared to that cult favorite. Turturro, however, takes Quintana in unpredictable directions. He’s clearly the same character — older, often with his hair sheathed in a hair net and exceedingly self-assured. But “The Jesus Rolls” is not like “The Big Lebowski.”
Early in “The Jesus Rolls,” Turturro resolves the issue of Quintana’s sex offense as not what it sounds like in “The Big Lebowski,” and bowling isn’t very much on his mind throughout.
The movie begins with Quintana being released from prison. A longtime friend, Petey (Bobby Cannavale), picks him up and they embark on what at first looks like a juggernaut of petty crime and morphs into a wandering road movie. As Turturro notes, the story also is based on Frenchman Bertrand Blier’s novel and subsequent 1974 film staring Gerard Depardieu, “Going Places” (originally titled "Les Valseuses"), in which two men and a woman they pick up along the way roam the French countryside, committing crimes and engaging in various sexual couplings.
Similar to Blier’s story, Quintana and Petey menace a hairdresser, played here by Jon Hamm of “Mad Men,” and run off with his car and later his assistant Marie (Audrey Tautou). The film features a host of amusing cameos, including “Saturday Night Live” veteran Pete Davidson. Christopher Walken is the prison warden.
When Quintana and Petey steal the hairdresser’s car, it looks like Turturro is launching a rowdy action comedy. But several stolen cars later, when Quintana and Petey pick up another recently released prisoner, played by Susan Sarandon, the film slows its pace. Her presence is sobering, as she comments on the down sides of aging. Quintana and Petey don’t delve too deeply into such contemplation, but their journey shifts into a lower gear.
For all the car chases, sex, stunts and celebrity cameos, “The Jesus Rolls” doesn’t come off as a comedy romp. Turturro allows himself to explore all sorts of whims, and his film is all over the road. Wondering where it’s going next becomes a kind of puzzling suspense, though it’s rarely as satisfying as the Coens’ unpredictable turns. Quintana is entertaining when he’s on a roll, but he's onscreen the whole time in "The Jesus Rolls," and his best moments are spread thin.
"The Jesus Rolls" screens at 5:15 p.m. through Thursday, March 19, at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge.