‘Jimmy & Stiggs’ FrightFest 2025 Review: An Aggressively Hilarious Alien Invasion Comedy
Fans of vulgar comedies are in for a real treat with Jimmy & Stiggs, a balls-to-the-wall, no-holds-barred look at what happens when a hardcore drug user and his friend, who has been on the wagon for six months, are both caught in the middle of an alien invasion. Writer and director Joe Begos (Bliss, VFW, and Christmas Bloody Christmas) appears as Jimmy Lang, a foul-mouthed filmmaker with a fading career, who does not take kindly to aliens launching a siege on his Los Angeles apartment building. Matt Mercer appears as Stiggs Randolph, a fellow filmmaker and Jimmy’s former best friend, who clearly wants to leave the drug user lifestyle behind.
The back-and-forth banter and arguing between the pair was amusing, and the chemistry between Begos and Mercer was strong enough to make you believe that the two characters seem like former best friends who have recently drifted apart. Since this is ultimately a film about friendship, Jimmy & Stiggs would not have worked if the actors could not believably come across as friends. But the way in which Begos and Mercer constantly argued onscreen while also plausibly showing concern when one or the other was in danger certainly seemed convincing, with the two actors clearly having enough of a rapport to seem like best friends onscreen. Jimmy and Stiggs clearly cared about each other despite previous animosity. The compassion between the two friends results in some genuinely warm moments amidst the film’s carnage.
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Since Begos and Mercer were the only actors onscreen throughout most of the film, they succeed in carrying the story on their backs and ensuring that you’re never bored, even in a film with just one location and two characters. This is a home invasion movie with a heart, and there are plenty of other body parts on display, too.
It should also be noted that the arguments and even the more friendly discussions between the two titular characters are laced with constant profanity. Jimmy & Stiggs contains enough F-bombs to give a Martin Scorsese gangster film a run for its money. This is a film where the word “fuck” and its derivatives are used multiple times in almost every sentence.
Despite mostly taking place in Jimmy’s apartment, Jimmy & Stiggs is also a very physical film, with brutal fight scenes occurring at regular intervals as Stiggs fights off the alien invaders. In the making-of featurette that played after the screening at FrightFest, Begos explained that he suffered multiple injuries while shooting Jimmy & Stiggs, with a particularly dangerous stunt involving a ceiling fan being a huge highlight. The fearless Begos was clearly not afraid to literally dive into the role of Jimmy. The practicality he brought to his performance makes Jimmy & Stiggs particularly memorable in an age where effects, wirework, and stunt doubles often lessen the impact of practical fight scenes. By the end of the film, a huge number of aliens are slain by Jimmy, with Stiggs also securing a few kills along the way.
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Aliens are blasted and chopped to pieces throughout Jimmy & Stiggs, and the wonderfully old-school, practical creature and gore effects were spectacular to behold. The influence of producer Eli Roth is clearly felt, with gore practically everywhere you look. There’s also a homage to Doom featuring a chainsaw from a first-person perspective, which will leave fans of the game beaming with joy.
Jimmy & Stiggs is clearly a film that never strives to be profound. It’s simply aiming to be a stoner comedy about two former friends reconciling so they can defend themselves against aliens. The constant profanity, buckets of gore, impressive fight scenes, and the chemistry displayed between Begos and Mercer help make this a delightfully fun and absurd sci-fi comedy. And Jimmy & Stiggs certainly never wanted to be anything more.
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Jimmy & Stiggs
Summary
Jimmy & Stiggs presents viewers with a heart-warming tale of friendship sprinkled with endless amounts of gore and profanity, making it an unforgettably outrageous sci-fi comedy.
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