When Jeff Tried to Save the World

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When Jeff Tried to Save the World

2018

1h 33m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

67%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

When Jeff, the manager of an old-school bowling alley, discovers the owner's plans to sell, he has to use the things around him, including a high school stoner, a perverted janitor, a 90-year-old bowling champion, a sassy kitchen worker, and the occasional drug-induced conversation with Pac-Man, to save it.

Cath Clarke

Guardian

The actors often look like they're mimicking real feelings.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 14, 2021

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Matt Fagerholm

RogerEbert.com

Occasionally the dialogue can be too on-the-nose... yet Goldberg's utter disinterest in condescension is precisely what makes her movie so lovable.

Rated: 3/4

Dec 12, 2018

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Taylor Baker

Drink in the Movies

Episode 20: When Jeff Tried To Save The World / Creed II / The Ballad of Buster Scruggs / The World Is Yours / Burning

Rated: 55/100

Sep 3, 2021

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

It's a quiet little story, quirky and sweet and funny and real.

Rated: 3.5/4.0

Sep 27, 2020

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Douglas Davidson

Elements of Madness

[Kendall] Goldberg's direction, the cinematography, and the sound design channel nostalgia by capturing the feel of gaming ... and how the same lessons we learn from any game can assist us in life.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 7, 2019

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Danielle Solzman

Solzy at the Movies

Led by the performance of Jon Heder, When Jeff Tried to Save the World is inspiring in the ways it teaches us that change is still okay even if we don't like it.

Dec 12, 2018

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Jeffrey P

It knows what it is and is quaintly amusing, much like a cheap bowling alley or Hot Pockets.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/25/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Not entirely sure how I feel about this film. Is short for saying it was a good one, and not bad at all to say it wasn't . So it passed the time.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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s r

It had good intentions, but I only saw it for Heder.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

I really enjoyed it because of its nuance and it makes the audience care for this guy's life and desire to save a bowling alley. It looks into multi-faucets of his life and has a real heart to it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The girls from PEN 15, Napoleon Dynamite, a run-down bowling alley, and some banal work dreams all in search of a reason to exist. I couldn’t find it.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

06/08/20

Full Review

Audience Member

I have bowled many times in the bowling center where this was filmed so I was interested in seeing the film. It held my interest as the story line was established but I was disappointed in the pace of advancing the story. It was difficult for me to stay interested enough to watch until the end but I did make it.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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Kendall Goldberg

Director

Jon Heder

Jeff

Jim O'Heir

Carl

Steve Berg

Frank

Brendan Meyer

Stanford

Maya Erskine

Samantha

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Synopsis

When Jeff, the manager of an old-school bowling alley, discovers the owner's plans to sell, he has to use the things around him, including a high school stoner, a perverted janitor, a 90-year-old bowling champion, a sassy kitchen worker, and the occasional drug-induced conversation with Pac-Man, to save it.

Director: Kendall Goldberg
Producer: Kendall Goldberg, Jimmy Seargeant, Shane Simmons, Sam Slater
Screenwriter: Rachel Borgo, Kendall Goldberg
Production Co: Burn Later Prods.
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 7, 2018
Runtime: 1h 33m