(2008) Have you ever Googled your name to find out what information is available on the Internet about yourself or to see who else has the same name as yours? Taking what began as a "late-night ego surf," filmmaker (director, narrator, participant, and executive producer) James Robert Killeen, 38, of Los Angeles, turned a lark's chirp into a singing documentary - starring seven Jim Killeens - about the people he found. After he got 24 hits on Google, he spent a year of his life, nearly going bankrupt, making contact with six of them: an Irish priest, a retired New York City cop, a swinger in Denver, a sales VP in St Louis, an Australian health-services CEO, and a Scottish traffic engineer. The others he either couldn't locate or were resistant to his request for an interview.

Single, a one-time actor (see The Sex Monster), formerly the member of a card-counting team of gamblers, owner of a business that provides chair massages in the Commerce Casino in LA, transplant from Detroit, the youngest of four children, Jim Killeen and his associate producer Jeannie Roshar decided on four rules for the project: 1) in the search the names had to be matches with "Jim Killeen" (not "James" or "Jimmy"); 2) the search had to be via Google (not telephone directories or other listings); 3) each individual would have to agree to meet for an interview with Jim the filmmaker, who would do the traveling; 4) each individual would have to agree to a DNA test to determine possible blood kinship.

Jim also needed permission from Google, which proved to be easy - in part because a friend who's an attorney had been involved in the company's founding; he interviewed Dr Douglas Merrill of Google for background. More than ten years earlier, pre-Google, such a quest would have been arduously time consuming.

In Cobh, Ireland, Jim meets Jim Killeen, a "short, pink, bald" Catholic parish priest, who says the name originally meant "a small graveyard." There have been Killeens in Ireland for over a thousand years. California Jim's ancestors came over to America from Ireland in the 1850s following the potato famine. Father Killeen makes a distinction between a puzzle (something that can be solved) and a mystery (something requiring belief). As he does each of the Killeens in turn, Jim asks the priest what's the purpose of life: "Our purpose as human beings is to love."

In New York City a retired detective and former anti-piracy agent for the Motion Picture Association has the name Jim Killeen. He has a plaque of a hole in one in golf and shares some of his police cases in the interview. Though he and his wife have no children, he says that the purpose in life is to "reproduce, keep the world going."

In Denver Jim Killeen, an open, nonsecretive man, is a swinger and member of the Rocky Mountain Social Club where within a dark room people touch, grope, and kiss each other. Colorado Jim's girlfriend Eryn had previously been David; ex-wife Becky also talks to the camera. Both Jims enjoy playing poker. Life's purpose: "To play poker … I have no idea."

In St Louis resides Jim Killeen, vice president of sales for O'Brien Corp, with his wife Julie of 20 years and their eight children (including a son Jim). Catholic and Republican, he admits to having played at performing Mass as a child. "To serve others with the strength you have," he gives as his purpose in life.

To Melbourne, Australia, Jim flies to find Jim Killeen, the CEO of a health-services company, dedicated to social justice. In the home of Jim Killeen the filmmaker samples Vegemite (a strong, bitter-tasting concentrated yeast extract), attends an Australian football match, and observes kangaroos. Father of three sons, Aussie and Catholic Jim's twin brother Tom died.

Finally in Edinburgh, Scotland, Jim becomes acquainted with a traffic engineer, with whom he shares a strong physical resemblance, and the Scot's wife and daughter. Feeling as if he's entered the enchanted world inside a postcard, LA Jim drives (on the "wrong" side of the road) through confusing roundabouts with their designer, tries eating haggis (ground up sheep's stomach stuffed with heart and other organs), buys a kilt, blows on a bagpipe. Life's purpose is to "Be the best person I can to my family."

Jim intersperses these stories with interviews of other people, males and females, who similarly searched for name matches; one woman could not find anyone with the same name as hers.

The conclusion brings all seven Jim Killeens together in Killeen, Texas, home to the US Army's Fort Hood and celebrating its 125th birthday, where "Jim Killeen Day" is declared with a chili feast and rodeo. "Are any of us related?" The results of the DNA testing informs two distant cousins of their connection; there are at least five distinct Killeen family trees.

Giving answers as well, Jim questions each man as to his view of George Bush, Iraq, abortion, religion; his favorite food, color, film, actor, comedian, beverage, season; personal data; and reflections on life. Getting very personal about himself as well, California Killeen (conceived following his parents' watching Doctor Zhivago when his father was 54 and mother 44) interviews his mother and three siblings (two of whom are mentally ill) and says farewell to his father.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Patrick Ivers can be reached via e-mail at .