Welcome Home: The Jay Randall Story

Welcome Home: The Jay Randall Story | |
| Studio: | Jpnt Films |
| Director: | Jimmy Traynor, Peechee Neric |
| Cast: | Jimmy Traynor, Peechee Neric |
| Release Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://jpntfilms.com |
| Genre: | Drama, DIY |
Hollywood clichés get their comeuppance in this down and dirty feature quickie from JPNT Films, the local production outfit of producers/writers/directors/actors Jimmy Traynor and Peechee Neric. The JPNT home page (jpntfilms.com) boasts "We are best known for making full length feature movies improv style in 32 hours or less," and the run-and-gun approach certainly shows onscreen. Welcome Home tells the story of the titular Jay (Traynor), a Baltimore actor who is heading out to Los Angeles to get discovered for his big break as the movie opens--despite a lack of acting talent or support from his family and friends. When Hollywood proves too cutthroat for Jay--it's a dog-eat-dog world, what are you willing to do to make it, etc.--and he has to return to Baltimore with his proverbial tail between his legs, Jay responds to the failure his family and friends predicted the way many an actor has probably wanted to over the years: by grabbing a knife and taking out all the haters he sees. Welcome Home is no budget and looks and feels it. Traynor isn't the most charismatic lead in a movie where he occupies almost every shot, and the movie doesn't have much of a tone or flow, more a forward motion that feels like its being shoved together in the editing room. But as a director Traynor has a pretty deft touch for staging and putting together action sequences with little to no resources, and the few instances of trashy B-movie schlock--intentional or otherwise--offer some much needed and offbeat comic touches.