The Jesse Ventura Story

By William Tynan

Eight minutes into this TV movie, George Janos tells his teenage son Jim: "You can be anything you wanna be." Sure as Jim will grow up to turn himself into Jesse ("the Body") Ventura and become Governor of Minnesota, you now know that this unauthorized biography will be more Afternoon Special than Slamboree. Nils Allen Stewart plays out the Jesse personas (Navy SEAL, bad-boy rassler, radio shock jock, maverick pol) with an engaging sweetness. In the end, though, five minutes of the real-life Jesse is far more fun.

--W.T.