JCVD

JCVD is an edgy, often funny mix of true life and movie life, craftily directed by a 30-year-old genre fan around the personage widely known as The Muscles from Brussels. Jean Claude Van Damme brings battle-worn charisma and amazing frankness to the eponymous role of an aging, perpetually derided action star. He also brings the addiction issues, the bitter custody battles, the money problems, the lousy roles in straight-to-DVD movies, and the scrambled zen philosophizing that have made him a national joke in his native Belgium. When he’s taken hostage in a hold-up there, all and sundry assume that he’s the perpetrator, finally gone completely psycho. As the media circus amps up, action guy confronts the meaning of life: can he kick his way out of this mess without a script?

“Clever, insightful, neatly balancing action with drama, impeccably crafted and blessed with a charismatic star willing to simply lay it all out there... JCVD is a revelation.” — Tod Brown, Twitch