Jack of all Trades (2018) User Reviews

Uneven and some parts are clearly scripted

[kevintheghost · 5/10 · 10 June 2019]

When the documentary is about baseball cards, it's fun and entertaining. When's it's personal and the dude with emo hair interjects, it ruins everything.

The personal drama is so scripted and fake. They're all bad actors. It comes across as bad soap opera. The running over the cards scene was completely fake and other VH1 style scenes. This is what happens when a producer doesn't get on a board with ONE idea. I wonder who messed this movie up... Emo hair man !

When it's not about Jack and his crappy dad. It's a fantastic movie about baseball cards. Maybe someone will make a real documentary about cards one day.

Awesome idea..

[bluefoxniner · 6/10 · 9 June 2019]

A documentary about baseball cards is such a cool theme and I couldn't wait to see this.

But ultimately this film is flat and dull, just like the dislikable weakling it's centred on.

I can only conclude the over the top reviews and praise has come from people directly associated with this venture. It's a 6 out of 10 at very best.

WHY THE DRAMA?

[lanaliliya · 5/10 · 2 August 2019]

I appreciate the realness of this documentary, but the main character was pretty unlikable. He was whiney and annoying. The redeeming part of this documentary was when he went to the top baseball card collectors house and interviewed him, I wish there was more of that instead of all the drama. He should've found more collectors and interviewed them too.

This is not a baseball card documentary.

[NeonRocketship · 1/10 · 4 August 2019]

This is a long, dull reality show staring an unlikable man who acts like a childish brat who demonstrates less knowledge about the sport and the hobby than your average child with a passive interest in baseball. In fact, the sport seems completely meaningless to everyone in the film. Their only concern is money and they blame the industry for alleged misdeeds when their dreams of growing rich off of baseball cards didn't come to pass.

Large portions of the movie are bickering between Stuart and his family over what the movie should be, while the climax is a discussion that Stuart has with his father, who is perhaps the only person in the film who is less likable than Stuart himself.

The only redeeming parts of this film are the scene with Jose Canseco, who is down to earth and candid, and Foul Ball Paul, who clearly has a love for the game and a true interest in the hobby that extends beyond Stuart's petulant whines of "why aren't these worth more".

If you want to watch a clueless privileged man-child whine that the silver plate life handed him wasn't polished quite to his liking, this film is for you. If you have any interest in baseball or baseball cards and want to reminisce or learn more about the sport or the hobby, please do not waste your time on this garbage film.

The premise of very misleading

[mreaves76 · 4/10 · 4 May 2019]

This documentary has very little to do with baseball cards and more about a sons hard feeling about his father who abandoned his family.

what did I just watch?

[zazz13 · 1/10 · 31 July 2019]

This documentary almost was like an excuse to get some tv time for a spoiled brat to talk about his family's issues. I wanted to watch something related to the history of trading cards, not some horribly acted slow motion train wreck. Just awful.

I enjoyed it, but it's not really about baseball cards

[dlmcamaross · 8/10 · 22 July 2019]

The premise was that Stu wanted to know why all his late 80's and 90's baseball cards weren't worth anything. However, this can be answered in about 2 seconds, over production. You don't need a documentary to figure that out. The real story is Stu getting closure with his father, whether he likes it or not. You can clearly see how what happened to his family has shaped who Stu is today. His sister and mother seemed more well balanced, but Stu has been deeply affected.

The good times Stu had with his dad collecting sports cards really hit home with me as I did that with my dad as well. Lots of good memories brought up there. I was tired and turned this on and had only intended to watch a few minutes to see what it was about. I watched the whole thing right then.

Hard to watch

[jh-85602 · 2/10 · 19 July 2019]

This documentary was supposed to be about the rise and fall of baseball cards in the 80s &90s , but we get a weak story , weak acting, and very weak production I can only give 2 stars because it is obvious that all of the back story of the "father son " rift was a total lie The story is all over the place There is characters that they don't introduce, and you can tell a lot of this is rehearsed

Totally uneventful.

[michael1000 · 2/10 · 13 April 2019]

Don't waste your time or $ watching this. The main dude is a complete wuss who's almost as annoying as he was at his bat mitzvah.

False advertisement

[abernardo74 · 1/10 · 2 August 2019]

This junk has nothing to do with card collecting. It is just about a man child carrying around a Ken Griffey Jr. Rc. that was MASS produced and has little value in 2019. It is about a dork with mental illness who uses his daddy issues as an excuse of why he has no life or love anymore as a grown man. It is a shame that Netflix even greenlit this thing.

Scripted documentary

[nickrobinson113 · 3/10 · 1 August 2019]

I was enjoying this movie until I suddenly realized that it was not unfolding organically. Great card history, terrible and scripted personal journey.

A nice story weaved into a documentary

[m_mileur · 8/10 · 31 July 2019]

This is not the movie to tell you your cards from the 80s and 90s are worthless due to overproduction...you knew that! It is one of the players involved in the industry looking for some whys and also the whys on what happened to him personally! Thought it was well done and interesting to watch. I loved that era of cards and the great shows that were held everywhere!

Joke of a movie

[Pokerfan2006 · 1/10 · 7 August 2019]

Was this supposed to be about your acting career/ family drama or about baseball cards? There could have been a lot more about the fans massive collections, and where the industry has gone now with numbering cards and having game used stuff.

Guy who collected cards his whole life pretends to know nothing about cards

[daveynewhouse · 2/10 · 18 August 2019]

First, let's assume you know anything about cards. You have a massive collection. You think, "I wonder how much this card is worth?"

Do you then, Google it to see, or make a movie about it to find out and pretend you have no idea, using your B level acting skills to trick the audience in to thinking you're a complete moron?

Well, the lifelong card collector/actor pretends to not know what Beckett is, acts shocked on camera when he finds out his cards are worth pennies, acts like he has never heard of a game worn or jersey card, takes all his 90s boxes to a card show and is APPALLED to find out they're worth $40 bucks.

This isn't even mentioning that they spliced in all these terribly acted scenes about the relationship between terrible actor man and his father, which apparently is what the movie is about because blah blah this movie is terrible.

If you like cards or collected them as a kid, avoid this. If you hate scripted reality, avoid this. Why did they do this? I dunno. Was looking forward to it. It's bad.

Wanted to Like But it Failed Horribly

[BobbyVideo · 2/10 · 30 May 2019]

Really wanted to watch this movie - I grew up at this time, collected cards, worked at a card store, divorced parents - but this was really awful. The story of Stu's father leaving, the WHY - the whole center of the story is never answered. Very weak filming, all shaky camera, not set up no pay off. Sad. Really wanted to like this. Don't waste your time.

Phony Story Line

[kevinosborne_99 · 3/10 · 23 July 2019]

There is some interesting information on baseball cards but the "real" story, the supposedly incomplete father son relationship ruins it. A con job that attempts to pull the heart strings but ends up disappointing and leaves a bad taste. I don't believe a word of it except the collapse of the baseball card market and shenanigans by a card company.

More than just a baseball card movie...

[Drewster911 · 9/10 · 13 August 2019]

For those of us who grew up in the late 1980's and 90's, this movie takes you back to a simpler time. And although it hits on baseball cards and the industry... the movie is really about a child who loved cards with his dad, only to have his dad leave the family... and rarely contact his son. We all knew of a family like this in that time period. It was a time before the Internet or cell phones... where some dads just walked out on their families and never came back. It was easier to disappear back then. It was kind of a metaphor for the card industry and how it all just changed one day. I didn't expect to tear up when the main guy in the movie got to meet his father for what he said was the first time in 20 years. I wasn't expecting much from this movie... but I found it to be a compassionate take on a time gone by. I'd actually like to see more sports documentaries by these filmmakers. The main guy seems like a cool dude. By the way, I have 25 Upper Deck Ken Griffey, Jr. rookies still in their protective sleeves!

I had to stop watching this piece of junk

[habsphannn · 1/10 · 2 March 2021]

When the movie stats with the main character listing all of the tv shows and movies that he appeared in, followed by film clips of him at his bar mitzvah, I should have taken that as a red flag. This movie was more about a wanna-be actor, his little tantrums, and his family issues than about baseball cards. I learned more about what happened in the trading card business by reading news/magazine articles on the internet than I did by watching this pitiful, pitiful movie. I stopped watching about 20 minutes in.....to go and wash dishes. That's how had it was.

Wasted Opportunity

[iquine · 3/10 · 26 September 2019]

(Flash Review)

Not enough about baseball cards; too much about this guy's personal life issues. I had zero, absolutely ZERO, interest in his personal story and how his baseball card shop owner Dad abandoned his family. Plus the guy was unlikable. He spoils golden opportunities when he actually visits the Topps headquarters and interviews the CEO as well as the CEO of Upper Deck. It was neat to meet the man who designed the 1989 Upper Deck set and see the raw photograph of the ultra-famous Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card as well as meeting a couple other super collectors that are in it for the love vs money. He attends a massive card show and talks with one person? Why is that card show flourishing when it seems the entire industry has more or less collapsed? Why, when and how did all the kids get pushed out? I can guess why but that was never covered. I learned very little about why the hobby collapsed that I didn't already know; over production and skyrocketing prices. If you never collected baseball cards, you have no business watching this.

Very Disappointing

[ChadS2art · 2/10 · 23 July 2019]

I would give it a different review if the story happened naturally and genuinely went from investigating a forgotten baseball card collection to Investigating what happened to Dad but unfortunately it is so painfully scripted and over produced it is barely watchable. A more honest, straightforward approach with the main character setting off to find out what happened without acting surprised his card collection was worthless and weaving in the trading card industry history would have made for a better story and film. Instead we get a series of terribly scripted "I didn't come here to talk about my Dad" sequences when it's obvious they did. (The moment the film becomes unbearable for me). On a positive note, I gave it a 2 because the retro Topps-style movie poster was well done.

Awful

[patrickwhiting-18375 · 1/10 · 24 August 2019]

If a guy wants to confront his lousy father, knock yourself out. But don't wrap up our worthless, priceless late 1980s baseball cards in it. The whole movie is absurd and wildly phony.

Getting rid of your (stuff)

[schmoab · 8/10 · 25 December 2019]

I thought this was going to be about baseball cards, but as a true documentary film, it goes in a different direction. Any kid born between 75-78 knows what this craze was all about. Most of still have some boxes of cards lying around. Some even have parents wanting us to get rid of them. Stu has more than old cards, he also has a ton of baggage after being a child star and being abandoned by his father. There's enough information about the card industry interweaved with this family story to get the point across.

Parts of this felt somewhat scripted. Lots of details about Stu's life were left unexplored. Maybe it was all pop psychology, but you really understood in the final interview scene how closed off he is. Things mostly go unresolved, as in real life. The judgment by his beautiful older sister for him not having a family felt pretty real.

Obviously the bonfire (at a public city park?) was too on the nose. That was the point of the whole doc. You just gotta stop blaming the stuff in your past and just move on. Easier said than done in an afternoon. Maybe room for a sequel.

Cry me a river

[rochej-99135 · 1/10 · 24 September 2019]

This guy grew up in a privileged home with a great family around him. Then he has the gall to act like his life is miserable because his dad cheated. One, I'm sure that was tough as a kid but you still had the entire rest of your family. And two, who cares? I don't know this guy and his story isn't interesting at all. I thought it was a real doc about baseball cards but it's a scripted doc about a whiny, privileged kid.

Focus, camera guys... focus.

[scrap-1 · 2/10 · 10 August 2019]

The C300 with cheap canon still lenses is impossible to make look good. You have to learn to focus at least. Less than mediocre camera work. Hard to watch.

You've seen it before

[jerrycoliver · 4/10 · 30 July 2019]

You've seen this story 100 times before. It's the classic "personal documentary" that starts fun and light-hearted then takes a left turn. It's not made poorly, some of it looks great, but it's so contrived it's painful. Stuart feels like he's acting sometimes and acting like he's resisting but clearly he wants it.

I guess it only stands out as even more of a cliche because Documentary Now just did "Searching for Mr. Larsen" and these two docs are beat-for-beat the same.