susandalerichardson I suffered this movie because I love Jessica Chastain, but OMG, what a redundant, trite pile of stereotypes. Very derivative of all the plots where the girl is good and sweet and naive and the rest of the cast (including the director of this movie) prey on her. You've got your pedophile uncle, the creepy Cindy who works at the insane asylum where raped girls apparently go, the drug addicted first husband, wife-beating second husband, the rich guy who buys Jolene's affections and insists she stop dancing the poles, and finally the wife-beating second husband who steals her child. Clearly this sad little movie was written, directed and produced by men uninterested in character depth, plotting, or creativity. Stupid and disappointing. Ugh.

Divya Vincent I just saw the movie.. It's 2017. 9 years after it was made. What is the point of this Movie? Is it to show people how terrible life can be? Or what? And what kind of wrong information has been provided ..? Like the system is against her. She's like this idiot woman who never learns.. It's thoroughly annoying with such unnecessary disgusting sex scenes and nudity! There's no taste at all. The only thing good about it was Chastain 's acting.

brunettewarrior I watched Jolene because I am a huge fan of Jessica Chastain. I truly think she has the acting chops to live out a long and successful acting career. I am not familiar with the book this film is based on, so I can only rate this film based on what was presented.This movie is a coming-of-age story. Jessica is not 15, however, at the beginning of the film she acted the emotional age of 15. She was so convincing of that, that appearance-wise it didn't matter as much to me. As for plot, many before said there was no plot. I disagree on this point. Following Jolene on her physical, mental and emotional journey was indeed the plot! This was not a lazy man's film; you had to pay attention. Jolene was learning and her character was developing along the way. Jessica's acting was perfect, even if the story felt a little drawn out or campy at times.The only things I feel that would have improved the movie were a more resolute ending (does she fight for her child?), and a slightly different cast. I could not take Rupert Friend, Michael Vartan, and Denise Richards seriously.

MBunge You can certainly understand why Jessica Chastain took this role. I mean, what actress just into her 30s wouldn't? It's not only the lead in a relatively substantial production, the whole movie revolves around her character and she's on screen for almost every second of it. It's a part that goes from 15 to 25, from roadside whore to rich man's wife, from dependent little girl to supposedly independent woman. There's also a decent bit of nudity, which is sadly something many actresses need to indulge in for Tinsel Town to take notice of them. If Chastain had any hesitation about this job, I'm sure everyone from her parents to her agent to the little Korean lady at the nail salon told her that this motion picture was going to make her career. There are just two little problems. One, Jolene isn't really any good. The story is shallow and contrived and is more like a simulation of life than real existence. Two, Chastain is not the right kind female for this sort of part.This largely plot less tale is about Jolene (Jessica Chastain), a red headed girl from a life of foster parent abuse who at 15 married a young man desperate enough to take her as a bandage for his wounded heart. She almost immediately betrays him for his older smarmy uncle, which destroys everything and sends Jolene out into a cruel world that is never quite cruel enough to leave a mark on her. She passes from a lesbian guard at a juvenile mental home to a charismatic tattoo artist to a mobster to the scion of a wealthy Oklahoma family. Along the way, Jolene only gets a little bit wiser but never any more sympathetic or likable.Part of it is that the film assumes the audience will automatically identify with and root for Jolene, so it never does anything to make her any more appealing than her physical attributes. Jolene isn't all that nice and she isn't good in any meaningful sense of the word and this movie never gives the viewer any reason to emotionally invest in what happens to her. When bad things happen, it's like watching a rotting house collapse from a distance. It's momentarily diverting but you don't care about the house and you're not close enough to it to feel any danger or risk.Part of it is that Jolene does not appear to be happening in any kind of real world. The character is put in all these fake, fabricated situations that are like bad reproductions of actual things. The world has strip clubs but the one Jolene works at is classier and more refined than any strip club on Earth or any other planet. This story takes place in the present but is based on an understanding of family and divorce law that is straight out of the 1950s. And though Jolene is twice thrust into situations of great wealth after periods of practically living on the street and turning tricks to get by, she never thinks to stash any money away for herself.Part of it is that Jolene, while the center of this movie, is so passive through the very end of the story. She barely does anything. Stuff happens to her and she hardly even reacts to most of it.And as mean as it is to point out, part of it is that Jessica Chastain is not beautiful enough to make Jolene believable. The most defining characteristic of Jolene is she's supposed to be so drop dead gorgeous that lovers fall helpless at her feet. Chastain pulls that off when Jolene is 15 and radiates the sort of raw, unconscious sensuality that turns middle aged men into idiots. But as the character ages and has to lose that Lolita-like openness, it gets harder and harder to buy that Jolene is so darn irresistible. Few guys would kick Chastain out of bed for eating crackers, but she's not that good looking…or at least not that kind of good looking. In fact, if Chastain were physically stunning in her early 30s, she wouldn't have been able to convincingly play someone sexually precocious and half her age.The direction and the acting here are good enough. It's the story itself that isn't worth anyone's time. You'd be better off listening to Dolly Parton's "Jolene" than watching this.