When one wants to experience a film based on actual events, it does not get any more real than Starring Jerry as Himself. Directed by Law Chen, the film provides real-life documentation of an elderly man who faced many financial constraints due to being scammed. Starring Jerry as Himself may even be one of the most important films of 2023 because of the way it presents a harsh scenario, i.e., being scammed, which is all too common today. Starring Jerry as Himself held my attention due to the intense struggles Jerry faces and how much stress they cause in his life. The stress, however, is just the beginning in Starring Jerry as Himself.

The film focuses on a family that documents the various facets of their father Jerry. He is an immigrant who has supposedly been recruited by the Chinese police to be an undercover agent. This may or may not be true. Within an instant Jerry starts to see his life spiral downhill when his accounts are messed with.  Inspector Ou (played by Fang Du) and Officer Zhang (played by Haosong Yang) inform him that he needs to be careful, and that the Chinese government are onto him. Jerry now finds himself facing a scam that can even impact him at his age.

The film shows that a trail of funds is in odd places. Jerry struggles to think clearly and his decisions cause the audience to be curious about how much disaster Jerry can create for himself. Starring Jerry as Himself give off vibes that are stressful yet invigorating. The investigations, the realizations, and Jerry’s thinking all turn this true story into a conspiracy.

Overall, the feeling that the audience will feel is distress. They will feel this way because there is no easy way out of the choices Jerry makes or the orders he must follow (or assumes he must follow) from the authorities. Starring Jerry as Himself is a film which offers a realistic experience, where an event based on actual events strikes its audience to its core. Starring Jerry as Himself is a movie that is bound to enthrall its audience due to its serious subject matter.

In Starring Jerry as Himself, the problems complicating Jerry’s life appear to potentially be a setup. His experience involves situations in which Jerry assumes he is talking to authorities he can trust, but it may in fact not be the case. Sometimes he thinks he is doing the right thing by keeping certain people in the loop regarding his finances, but his communication with them may instead cause him to go down a deeper hole. Jerry must rely on the right resources before he loses his funds which provide his support and livelihood.

The experience of realism is Jerry’s life as he deals with a complicated conspiracy makes this film intriguing. An error with a scam sets off a turmoil of conflicts for Jerry. Can he recover what was taken from him? Find out in Starring Jerry as Himself. Three stars out of four stars.