2025 The Rule of Jenny Pen

• Directed by James Ashcroft
• Written by Eli Kent, James Ashcroft, Owen Marshall
• Stars Geoffrey Rush, John Lithgow, George Henare, Nikki MacDonald
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 44 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSTt7s29O2Q

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is an extreme tale of how getting old is awful, bullying, and tyranny when and where there shouldn’t be. The performances from the two leads are impressive. We both thought it was on the long side, but it was worth the watch. 

Spoilery Synopsis

Stefan Mortensen squashes a bug with a tissue. Oh, wait, he’s in the middle of a trial, and he’s the judge– a harsh one at that. In the middle of pronouncing a sentence, he has a stroke and keels over. 

The next we see, Stefan is in a wheelchair in a rest home. He insists that he’s only in this cheap place temporarily. The man sitting next to Stefan outside accidentally sets himself on fire, but the place is a little short staffed, and that goes badly. 

At the musical show, Stefan notices the other patients, including one old man cuddling a hand puppet. Stefan soon finds out he’s in a double-occupancy room with a man who really likes to talk. 

We see that Stefan has some serious problems with his hands, and he might be a little suicidal. 

We cut to the man with the puppet, Dave Crealy, as he walks through the halls at night. The doll is Jenny Pen. He stops to talk to an old woman who’s forgotten she’s been there for years. He pours a bucket of urine all over Stefan that night. 

In the morning, all the nurses insist that Stefan peed himself, even though he tries to explain. He even names Dave as his assailant, but no one pays any attention. 

The two men soon become arch enemies. 

That night, Jenny Pen (and Dave) visit Tony, Stefan’s Maori roommate, a former rugby player. He torments both men with his evil puppet. Tony explains that he’s always been like this, but now Dave has an audience in Stefan. Still, we see that he picks on and abuses most all the patients. 

Tony confides in Stefan about Dave’s ongoing bullying. This has gone in for years since Tony got there, but Tony doesn’t seem interested in making it stop. Dave complains that Stefan’s been stealing from him, and they do find some things. They do find something nasty, but it’s clear Stefan didn’t know about it. 

Stefan sees that Dave was on the staff going back for decades, so he knows all the ins and outs of the place. They trade barbs at lunch. Dave, on the other hand, knows exactly how Stefan’s deterioration is going to progress; he’s not going to get any better. We soon see, with the doctor visits, that Stefan really isn’t getting any better, he’s getting worse from the stroke. 

Dave leads an old woman outside and opens the gate to let her out to die. He makes a mistake this time, however, as she has his access card in her pocket. He has quite the adventure getting it back.

The doctors start “managing expectations” when Stefan talks about leaving. He’s started having memory blips and losing track of time. As he and Tony commiserate, Dave kills another oldster. 

Stefan sneaks into Dave’s room and looks at Jenny Pen, who briefly has real eyes. He drains Dave’s inhaler, so Dave’s next asthma attack is revenge. Stefan sleeps well that night, setting aside his call button. 

The next morning at breakfast, Stefan and Tony note the complete lack of Dave. It’s very peaceful. 

When Dave returns, he sets up quite a scene, but Stefan gets all the blame. None of the patients are competent enough to back him up in any way. Stefan passes out and wakes up in a hospital room, alone. Now paralyzed, Dave really torments him, just like he did with Tony. 

Timid Tony gets up his courage and tries to do a Haka dance at Dave, but it’s just pitiful; the nurses help him away. Dave realizes that Tony might be “growing a pair” but can’t let up. He finds Stefan hiding in a laundry room– no, it’s an ambush, as Tony and Stefan beat up Dave. It’s a rather low-energy combat, but the two weak men do outnumber Dave, who dies. Jenny Pen ends up melting in a bonfire. 

Stefan peacefully plays backgammon with another man as Tony naps in the background. Everyone is happy. Or as happy as it gets in this place. 

Brian’s Commentary

Getting old sucks, but this is a bit much. I find it hard to believe that Dave could be doing all that, and the staff wouldn’t even notice. The real horror here is the lack of staff in these places. 

I like how the doll changed expressions depending on what was going on at the time. Still, other than the changes in the doll’s face, there’s no indication that anything supernatural or weird is really going on. It’s not controlling him; Dave is just an evil man picking on old people. 

The performances here are excellent, as you’d expect with these two men, but the film itself really just goes on and on, dragging quite a lot in the middle. 

It’s quite a story!

Kevin’s Commentary

This was painful and sad to watch at times. The movie plays up the ways that getting old can suck, with infirmity, loss of independence, and isolation. The performances were great. The script was well written, but a little on the long side. It felt like it was going on longer than it should. I’d give it a moderate thumbs up overall.