Brandon Scott Jones can be funny without making a fuss. We rate the composure he brings to Renfield, while his television work gives him more time to develop a character.
Fi1m perspective
In Renfield (2023), Brandon Scott Jones runs the support group with a calm that Nicholas Hoult's exhausted Renfield badly needs. As Mark, he takes the business of listening to other people's troubles seriously, which is why the comedy works. We laughed at the steadiness of his manner beside Hoult's apologetic delivery. Chris McKay's film too often keeps Hoult and Nicolas Cage apart, but these meetings have a comic rhythm worth keeping. Jones helps make the ordinary business of the group funny without making its members seem foolish.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), in which he plays Glen, is the stronger film, though our admiration there centres on Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant and director Marielle Heller. Television offered Jones more space, with Curtis Paltrow in The Other Two (2019) and then Captain Isaac Higgintoot in Ghosts (2021). The latter was his breakthrough, giving his physical comedy and mannerisms time to develop alongside the character's emotions. That longer acquaintance matters for an actor so often cast as flamboyant, snarky or desperate: he gets to do more than establish the type.
He has also worked on the writing side of ensemble comedy, as a writer and co-producer on The Other Two. He co-wrote Senior Year (2022), in which he also appears. In front of the camera, we value his willingness to leave room for the other actors. Adrian Martinez, Camille Chen and Bess Rous give the Renfield group problems that feel small and real, and Jones does not need to exaggerate his responses to get a laugh. The film is better when it allows this sort of exchange.
The reservation is about how little the film roles tend to ask of him. A small part can use his timing without asking him to sustain a character, and Renfield remains a mixed evening however well its support group works. We would like to see a film give him the time that television has allowed Isaac, rather than another useful entrance and exit. For a sustained acquaintance with him, start with Ghosts.
Biography
Brandon Scott Jones is an American actor, comedian and writer. He was born on 6 June 1984 in Bel Air, Maryland, and trained at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. He is a regular performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York and Los Angeles.
Jones is best known for playing Captain Isaac Higgintoot in the CBS series Ghosts (2021–), for which he received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He appeared as Donny in the film Isn't It Romantic (2019) and as Mark in Renfield (2023). He also co-wrote and starred in Senior Year (2022) and has writing and producing credits on The Other Two.
