Rebel with a Clause

Ellen Jovin is a teacher and author obsessed with all things grammar related. She's also the very definition of a people person and so, in 2018, she set up a 'grammar table' around Manhattan streets, inviting passersby to ask her their grammar questions. The results were informative and frequently hilarious and so Jovin and her husband, director/producer/cinematographer/editor Brandt Johnson, decided to visit all fifty states for Ellen to cross divides as he made his feature debut, "Rebel with a Clause."

Laura's Review: B+

If Jovin is the very definition of a people person, always inviting and positive while looking for any excuse for a hearty laugh, "Rebel with a Clause" is the very definition of a crowd pleaser, a documentary focused on a subject everyone has opinions about where Americans from Florida to Alaska, from Martha's Vineyard to Hawaii, can gather around the grammar table. Jovin's claims of grammar discussions being a means to bring people together during divisive times may be a bit of a stretch, but the interactions captured by Brandt reveal Americans coast to coast engaged in friendly interaction. (Brandt also gets affectionately dinged when one person appears to be afraid to approach Jovin's table and she suggests it may be because of the towering cameraman hovering behind her.)

Grammar Nazis who believe one should never split an infinitive will hear otherwise here while the battle over whether a sentence's period should be followed by one space or two is left a bit more ambiguously, Levin saying two 'are no longer necessary.' This is one of many instances that cause people to refer to lessons drilled into them in their youth being hard to jettison (I myself had that two space rule hammered into my brain by nuns and use it still to this day, despite some public jeering). As to that last sentence - should a period be put inside or outside of the parentheses? - it depends on whether the parenthetical includes the entire or partial piece of the sentence. And dashes add panache! Plural possessives, semi-colons and the very divisive Oxford comma all get their moments, while the debate about when to use who versus whom finds people concerned about sounding snooty. Curse words add emphasis, Ellen even using the most notorious to explain the meaning of an infix, when one word is inserted into the middle of another as in 'un-%#*!-believable.' And while the questioner is advised that pronunciation is not grammar, it does lead into another humorous offshoot. Also, it is quite okay to begin a sentence with the word 'and.'

Ellen's encounters are broken up by Brandt with dashcam footage of the two on the road (Ellen's always in the driver's seat, he's frequently asleep), passing scenery and Ellen marching through the streets with her folded up table, looking for a place to set up. She goes through a hilarious bureaucratic maze in one beachside town in order to get a permit and after all the effort winds up in a parking lot. She'll sit on a blustery observation platform waiting for a passerby who never arrives and the two will film themselves in a hotel room taking several seconds to remember just what city they are in. Before they can complete their fifty state journey, COVID causes a major break, but they'll return to finish up in the oddly overlooked Connecticut before making the journey to Alaska and Hawaii.

Of all the people Ellen meets along the way, two guys from Alabama are among the most amusing, one becoming determined to change his dating preferences based on his new appreciation for grammar. One older gentleman passes by expressing his disdain for the modern usage of plural pronouns, making us wonder if Johnson left negative interactions on the cutting room floor.  But Ellen herself receives the sweetest tribute in her last state, two middle-aged female beach goers in Hawaii beside themselves when they recognize the woman sitting behind the table. "Rebel with a Clause" is, at its core, a portrait of a memorable teacher, the filmmaking itself revealing a joyous marriage of like-minded spirits.

Robin's Review: B+

Ellen Jovin is an expert grammarian. She, and her husband, Brandt Johnson, grab a folding table, a dictionary and English-language reference books and set out to visit all 50 states with their “Grammar Table.” Ellen takes on any and all questions about the written word and gives answers in “Rebel with a Clause.”

I have five words to say: Struck & White: Elements of Style. That book, less than 100 pages long, changed my life in understanding English grammar and writing and has stuck with me to this day. Now, take that understanding, multiply it by about 1000, and inject a boat-load of passion for our language and that describes Ellen Jovin.

Ellen and Brandt began the project in 2018 when they set up the Grammar Table outside a NY subway station. She offered anyone who asks answers to their questions about grammar, punctuation and sentence structure. On the surface, this seems boring, but when you take it across the country to, literally, all 50 states and add a diverse clientele, then ….

At a scant 86 minute runtime Jovin and Johnson (besides directing, he is also cameraman and, often, participant) pack a lot of information about our language and written word. But, there is a great deal of good-natured humor as she and they discuss such earth shaking revelation that, yes, there is, indeed, a single quote mark in the word “y’all.” This and other descriptions – the Oxford comma drew a great deal of discussion – make “Rebel with a Clause” an excellent education for anyone.

A good documentary should educate, enlighten and entertain. “Rebel with a Clause” gives us that in spades AND kept a smile on my face for the entire time, with a few good laughs thrown in, too.

"Rebel with a Clause" began its run on 8/9 in NY.  Expanding play dates and theaters can be found here.