TFS Movie Review: The Incredible Jessica James | Coco Queen Unicorn

Netflix

If you’re a fan of Jessica Williams, then the new Netflix original The Incredible Jessica James is for you. The former Daily Show correspondent and one half of the popular podcast duo 2 Dope Queens, Jessica gives hope out there to all those struggling out of college creatives still trying to make sense of this thing called life.

From the beginning, we know Jessica James is A LOT. She’s forward, honest, has no filter, dances to the beat of her own drum, loves the theater, hates manspreading, is tall, pretty, and a goddamn coco queen.

Oh, and Jessica James is just plain AWESOME.

But beneath all that “raw feminine energy,” Jessica hides her vulnerable, insecure side well.

She’s a struggling playwright who has yet to have a play produced in New York with multiple rejection letters from theater companies plastered on her wall. She has a super normal family that will probably never understand her eccentric ways. And she’s still in love with her ex-boyfriend Damon played by Atlanta’s Lakeith Stanfield.

“You’re all queens, or however you choose to identify.”

While waiting for one of her plays to be picked up, she teaches public school kids at a non-profit how to write and produce their own plays. And at the recommendation of her friend Tasha (Noël Wells, Master of None) she begins to date Boone (Chris O'Dowd, Bridesmaids) who is recently divorced. Through this weird commiseration of their obsession with their exes, Boone and Jessica start to actually form a relationship.

Throughout the movie, we learn more and more what has helped shape and mold Jessica. And it’s reassuring to know that even those who seem to be the strongest, self assured, and confident also have their own trials and tribulations that they face as well.

If someone other than Jessica Williams led this movie it wouldn’t have worked. But her quick-witted delivery helps you bond with the character and you find yourself rooting for Jessica James all the way.

TFS Rating: B+