Jimmy Review: A Pandering Biopic With An Very Good Jimmy Stewart Impression

Despite star KJ Apa's ability to channel Jimmy Stewart's voice and mannerisms, this saccharine biopic is too superficial to strike true.

It's easy to see the niche in the theatrical marketplace that Jimmy is trying to occupy – in fact, it's fairly difficult not to think of the movie in those terms, even as it's unfolding. The target audience of this new biopic of Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart skews older, and are likely infrequent moviegoers. They may even be inclined to think that most films these days have little to say to them. They will care that Jimmy can be described as family friendly or "clean," and that God is referenced with both reverence and relative frequency. They also, of course, have enough of a relationship with Stewart that hearing his distinctive voice, recognizing one of his mannerisms, or even catching a reference to one of his movies, will hit that little nostalgia button in the pleasure center of their brains.

There's no shame in such targeted marketing; that's why genres exist in the first place. The real question is to what extent it's just marketing. If a film is made with real artistic integrity, that will come across, even to those who ostensibly fall outside the group it's being sold to. If it's loaded with fan service and explicitly designed to hit that nostalgia button as often as possible, there's little value in anyone who doesn't fit the profile of the ideal viewer seeking it out, and even those who do may want to think twice.

Jimmy is caught somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, or, rather, oscillates between them. It's conventionally told at best, but there is a good story here about Stewart's time as a combat pilot in the Second World War, and the film sometimes draws an interesting line between this experience and the nature of his celebrity. But it's generally much happier to skim along the surface of its biographical subject, where it can more easily play to its audience's expectations. If you ask me, the parts that work are not remotely worth sitting through the sections that are both lazy and sickly sweet.

Jimmy Is A "For The Fans" Biopic That Doesn't Earn Your Time

After an opening invocation of It's a Wonderful Life so shameless that I actually began Jimmy with my jaw dropped, the story travels back to 1941, when James "Jimmy" Stewart (KJ Apa) is at the top of his game. He's just won the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his performance in The Philadelphia Story, and MGM boss Louis B. Mayer (Jason Alexander) has big plans for his brightest star. Threatening to throw a wrench in those plans is an unexpected letter in James' mailbox: He's been drafted. James is inclined to answer the call, but Mayer insists on using his influence to make it go away – which, unfortunately, gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Sarah Drew) finds out, and spins hard.

Being raked over the coals as a draft dodger is almost too much; being seen as less-than by his Midwestern veteran father (Neal McDonough), who the film portrays Stewart as desperate to impress, pushes him over the edge. James is a talented pilot, and after he insists hard enough, he's allowed to join the United States Army Air Forces. Not to make propaganda films with his friend Frank Capra (Max Casella), but to fly combat missions over Europe as an officer in the 703d Bomb Squadron. Most of the movie is dedicated to this period in his life, with the last act capturing the filming of It's a Wonderful Life after a psychically wounded James has returned from the war.

Jimmy's storytelling is aggressively biopic-y. With rare exceptions, scenes exist either to advance the plot, or to introduce some broad, easily digestible piece of character detail. James' simplistic relationship with his father is a good example of the latter, but, truthfully, nearly all the character dynamics in the film are just as superficial. There are some compelling ideas here, mostly wrapped up in how Stewart's screen persona shaped his relationship with his men, but the filmmakers are not really looking to provide food for thought. When it works, its pleasures are those of engrossing drama; the aerial combat sequences are the best examples.

Its faults are also those of biographical films. When leaning into its worst impulses, the genre grossly oversimplifies, boiling the complexities of real life down to clear chains of cause, effect, and interpretation. They can become predictable and boring, or, as with Jimmy's final third or so, transparently pandering. The scene in which Capra pitches It's a Wonderful Life to Stewart is written and played as if they're discussing the momentous film it would become, not the as-yet-unproduced script that it was. The line the movie draws between certain aspects of Stewart's performance as George Bailey and the trauma of his wartime experience is far too neat for my liking; it reeks of a desire to "play the hits."

As does Apa's performance, which is clearly destined to be the film's primary talking point. I must admit, his impression of Jimmy Stewart is striking at times. Aside from a slip here and there, he pretty much nails the distinctive drawl, and there are moments of behavioral tick or facial expression that feel very well observed. But this is an impression, not a real performance – though I don't know who bears the blame for that. The decision to ape Stewart so closely contributes to the fun of watching the film, but it also calls attention to itself in a way that consistently distracts from the drama, something the filmmakers clearly believed was worth the risk. And there isn't much depth to Apa's James beneath the mannerisms, which could be as much the fault of the writing as the actor's work.

It's unlikely to be marketed this way, given the subject matter, but if Jimmy were any other kind of fan-servicey genre movie, it would be described as "made for the fans." Aside from the novelty of Apa channeling a beloved movie star, which could be fully enjoyed from a YouTube clip, there's not much on offer here for anyone who isn't smack-dab in the middle of its strike zone. You'd be much better off watching any number of Jimmy Stewart's classics (or, if it's the WW2-movie vibe you're after, I recommend Twelve O'Clock High).

Jimmy releases in theaters nationwide on Friday, November 6.

Release Date November 6, 2026

Runtime 120 Minutes

Director Aaron Burns

Writers Justin Strawhand

Producers David Cook, Angela Galgani Sullivan, Jack McClintock, John Norton

Cast

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  Jason Alexander

  Louis B. Mayer