''A Kid Like Jake'' is a 2018 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by Silas Howard and written by Daniel Pearle, based on his own 2013 play of the same name. The film stars

Claire Danes Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. She is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, '' Time'' named her one of the 100 most influenti ...

Jim Parsons James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, he played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom '' The Big Bang Theory''. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead ...

Priyanka Chopra Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; ; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is one of India's highest-paid actresses and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awar ...

Amy Landecker Amy Lauren Landecker (born September 30, 1969) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Sarah Pfefferman on the Amazon comedy-drama series '' Transparent'' (2014–2019), as well as her supporting roles in films ''Dan in Real Life'' ( ...

, Ann Dowd, and Octavia Spencer. It had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

on January 23, 2018. Distributed by

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its ...

, ''A Kid Like Jake'' had a limited release on June 1, 2018. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the performances of its cast.

Plot

Alex and Greg Wheeler are parents to their four-year-old son Jake. The struggles of getting into a prestigious kindergarten are apparent for the couple as the Wheelers are not the richest family living in New York. Family friend and preschool principal, Judy, suggests they take advantage of Jake's recently developing interests in gender non-conformity in order to gain admission.

Cast

as Alex Wheeler, a nervous newly pregnant mother, Greg's wife and Jake's mom. *

as Greg Wheeler, a licensed master social worker, Jake's father and Alex's husband *

as Amal, Alex and Greg's single mother friend * Leo James Davis as Jake Wheeler, Alex and Greg's preschool age son *

as Sandra, Greg's client who is facing marital issues * Ann Dowd as Catherine, Alex's mom * Octavia Spencer as Judith "Judy" Lawson, Jake's preschool principal * Aasif Mandvi as Darren, Amal's boyfriend * Rhys Bhatia as Sanjay, Amal's child *

Annika Boras Annika Boras (born February 28, 1981) is an American actress and director. As a theater actress, she received a Drama League Award nomination for her portrayal of Elektra in ''An Oresteia'' as well as a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for her per ...

as Lynn

Production

On February 24, 2017, it was announced that

and

had been cast in the drama film adaptation of ''A Kid Like Jake'', a play by Daniel Pearle who would also adapt; while Silas Howard would direct. Parsons and Todd Spiewak would be producing the film through their banner That's Wonderful Productions along with Eric Norsoph,

Paul Bernon Paul Bernon is an American businessman and film producer. His film '' Best Kept Secret'' was awarded a Peabody Award in 2014. Education and real estate career Bernon studied film at Boston University, and received a graduate degree in real est ...

for Burn Later, and Rachel Song for XS Media. On May 12, 2017, Octavia Spencer was cast in the film, while

, Ann Dowd, and

Michaela Watkins Michaela Suzanne Watkins (born December 14, 1971) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for starring on the Hulu series '' Casual'' and on the short-lived sitcoms '' The Unicorn'' and ''Trophy Wife'', as well as being a cast memb ...

were in negotiations to be cast. In July 2017,

joined the cast.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 23, 2018. Shortly after,

acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It received a limited release on June 1, 2018. Playing in 13 theaters, the film grossed $44,824.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reported approval rating based on reviews, and an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "''A Kid Like Jake'' poses some truly interesting possibilities -- many of which are lost in its overly cautious approach to an admittedly sensitive subject."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' called the film a "lovely comedy-drama". The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

gave the film three out of four, writing "Both Danes and Parsons excel in these well-written roles, with a compelling supporting cast around them that includes Octavia Spencer,

, Ann Dowd and Amy Landecker. ''A Kid Like Jake'' might not be especially cinematic, but it is profound in its simplicity and truthfulness about what real fights sound like and what real lives look like."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kid Like Jake, A 2018 films American drama films Films shot in New York City American films based on plays Transgender-related films American LGBT-related films 2018 LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films IFC Films films 2018 independent films 2018 drama films Films scored by Roger Neill Films about parenting 2010s English-language films 2010s American films