The Rule of Jenny Pen Review: John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush’s Committed Performances Can’t Offset James Ashcroft’s Tedious Psychological Thriller

You can always count on John Lithgow to play a madman, just like he did here in The Rule of Jenny Pen. Besides, her prior experience in such a role has already been tried and tested in Cliffhanger and, of course, Raising Cain. But before you get to see Lithgow in action, the movie opens promisingly with a prologue filmed in a disorienting visual style we are introduced to Geoffrey Rush’s Stefan Mortensen. He’s a judge who doesn’t mince words during a trial, and then, something happens while he’s about to sentence the convicted pedophile to prison. He finds himself suffering a stroke before he collapses from his chair.

Stefan’s condition ends up with him confined to a wheelchair, and now, he’s under medical supervision in the Royal Pine Mews Care Home. Even with one of his hands immobile due to a stroke and constantly moving around the facility in a wheelchair, he remains as cranky as ever. He insists that he will recover and is looking forward to leaving the facility. Well, at least that’s what he keeps telling the staff. His stay at the facility already triggers an unlikely event, and let’s just say, Stefan can’t do much other than watch in horror. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning, as if the incident serves as a precursor to something more sinister about to make his life miserable.

But who? This is where Dave Crealy (John Lithgow) comes in, a fellow elderly resident who loves to roam around bullying and tormenting others with his hand puppet — an eyeless, plump-faced baby doll named Jenny Pen. That puppet is supposedly used as a form of therapy, but Dave has other ulterior motives. For a while there, Dave’s penchant for going crazy towards some of the residents is sadistically fun to watch, thanks to Lithgow’s go-for-broke performance.

He contrasts well with Rush’s stern and no-nonsense performance as the former judge who can’t stand the former’s attitude, which often prompted him to file numerous complaints, but the nurses there barely take any action. Seeing Lithgow and Rush playing off each other in a cat-and-mouse game of mental and psychological torment is what keeps me watching the movie.

But that’s only so much these two actors can do if the story hardly makes any progress. The thing is, The Rule of Jenny Pen is based on Owen Marshall’s short story but director James Ashcroft, who also co-adapted the screenplay with Eli Kent, marking his second feature since 2021’s Coming Home in the Dark, can only muster a clunky result that overstays its welcome, resulting in a laborious 104 minutes. Most of the movie’s length consists of rinse-and-repeat moments of Dave making Stefan’s life recuperating in the facility a living hell ad nauseam.

The movie may seem like it has something to say about bullying, elder abuse and eliciting fear, but none of them go any deeper than glossing over the surface. As for the titular baby doll, the movie looks as if it suggests something supernatural lurking behind all the madness, but as I keep watching and anticipating, only to be gradually disappointed by Ashcroft’s flaccid third act.

No doubt that Ashcroft and cinematographer Matt Henley, where the latter previously lensed Coming Home in the Dark, know well how to evoke a sense of intimidation surrounding the existence of the Jenny Pen doll. Too bad he ultimately squanders the potential to make something good out of this creepy story about an aging psychopath with a hand-puppet baby doll torturing the helpless residents in the care-home facility.

The Rule of Jenny Pen is currently streaming on Shudder.