New indie movie - Kissing Jessica Stein

[Dave V]

Has anyone had the opportunity to see this film yet? It's not playing in my city.

It's the story of a woman who decides to try dating other women when she sees her life going down the crapper.

I've read many reviews of the film and they are very positive.

Micheal Potemra in the National Review says

quote:

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About sex, we have enough - indeed too many - movies; this is an unusual one, about people and about love.

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quote:

[Ryath]

It's playing downtown here...

I hope to see it this weekend, I'll post if I do.

[RomanceJunky]

I was fortunate enough to catch the preview for this when I went to see "Gosford Park" with my sister. It looked really good and at the end of the ad Pamela and I just looked at each other and said "Must see!", part of our own personal tradition of judging the up-coming flix while waiting to watch the new one. I also saw a very postive review of it this week in (I think it was) People. This looks to be a very good movie!

RJ...hoping she's not faked-out yet one-more-time by what looks to be a positive movie.

[christa monsta]

i saw it about a month ago, at a free preview. i have to say that i was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it was (i had no idea what to expect, and those free previews can really suck). the dialogue is very witty, and above all it's very funny! there are many hilarious side characters also.

i think it's nice film to show that everyone is different, and everyone is looking for something different in the person they love. and labels shouldn't necessarily define who and how we love. i recommend it! (of course, if you hate it, don't blame me...)

p.s. no good sex scene, though! oh well!

edited to add: i agree with the review above...it was a very refreshing movie (unlike a lot of the indie stinkers out there)
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"You can sleep with me!
Well now, that came out a lot more lesbian than it sounded in my head."

[This message has been edited by christa monsta (edited March 15, 2002).]

[Banshee]

Curve bashed this movie.. supposedly because, in the end, her knight shows up and rescues her.
But, it's something right?

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"Believe me I don't want to go,
And it'll grieve me 'cause I love you so
But we both know..."

[Thespia]

I also think this movie could be interesting. The article below is from Planetout.com:

"Kissing Jessica Stein" follows the formula of numerous contemporary, urban, hip, romantic, dialogue-driven movies ranging from the Woody Allen oeuvre to the latest Meg Ryan date flick. Part of why this film works so well is that it is formulaic and familiar: Pair meet cute, court bumpily, fall in love. The other reason is that the plot offers a refreshingly new twist on an old story: the two romantic leads are both women.

Of course, in an era in which the "lesbian kiss" is both a prime-time finale du jour and a David Letterman punchline, it may no longer seem like novel stuff. But "Kissing Jessica Stein" isn't the kind of packaged titillation aimed squarely at a targeted demographic that shows TV and Hollywood execs at their most cynical and hucksterish. This is a small, sharply-written, incisive comedy that examines, with smarts, style and sexiness, the very nature of romance, lesbian and otherwise.

It speaks volumes that the script was written by a pair of theater actresses who wanted to create good roles for themselves. (The film had its origins on the stage.) "Kissing Jessica Stein" isn't a slick star vehicle, although Jennifer Westfeldt, who plays fuss-budget Jessica, and Heather Juergensen, who plays hip Helen, are talented and attractive enough to fit the bill. What's most memorable about the film are the characters Westfeldt and Juergensen have created: complex, lively, assured and vulnerable. In other words, you and your friends.

Needy, neurotic Jessica is a newspaper editor with a Jewish mother who keeps trying to fix her up with dates that end disastrously. (The great Tovah Feldshuh kicks the Jewish mother caricature up a few notches, delivering the most sympathetic performance in the film.) In desperation, Jessica answers a Village Voice personals ad. The one that strikes her deepest has been placed by a woman. Throwing her customary caution to the wind, Jessica answers the ad.

She's prepared to run from her surprising boldness when she discovers that, for the first time in years, she's actually clicking with someone. And why not? Helen Cooper, an art gallery curator, is pretty, smart, feisty, sexually adventurous ... and she has a way with words, which causes bookish Jessica's heart to race. There's a lot of silliness about the women trying to get it on physically and being foiled again and again by Jessica's fears and neuroses. But every time "Kissing Jessica Stein" threatens to turn slapstick and embarrassing, the script manages to stay a step ahead, thanks to good writing (Helen on the perfect shade of lipstick: "You'll never find it. You have to blend") and winning performances. Time and again, Westfeldt and Juergensen steer the film from coyness into brave romantic comedy terrain. Unlike, say, "In and Out," the film isn't Gay 101, and so doesn't suck up to straight audiences by offering only nonthreatening, nonsexual situations. The women eventually do have sex, albiet off camera, and it indeed complicates things.

As their romance deepens, the film has the courage to examine with poignancy, clever humor and remarkable tenderness what this means for two straight women who thought they were just experimenting. As if to supply its own chorus of critics, the film has a gay male couple, friends of Helen's, serve as the dissenters. Other than this pointed questioning of Helen's motives and true feelings, all their family members and friends turn out to be supportive of this new relationship -- perhaps not fully realistic, but believable and pleasurable enough for a light romantic comedy.

More than anything else, "Kissing Jessica Stein" injects life and spirit into the modern romantic comedy genre, which has been held hostage by cardboard heterosexual characters (Billy Crystal and Tom Hanks, anyone?) and by-the-numbers scripts that seek to remake "Sleepless in Seattle" over and over. For that alone, it's groundbreaking and worthy of applause.

-- Loren King

[Thanatopsis]

Here's the offical site, if anyone's interested.
www.foxlightsearch.com/kssingjessicastein

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Riley: We like the ceiling fan.
Willow: Yes! It's very...you know, kind of old south.
Buffy: But without the unpleasant slavery associations.
-The Replacement

[tot2525]

I saw the movie a few days ago and I thought it was a great, refreshing comedy about falling in love. And especially delightful if you are a twenty-something single living in New York (like me). It isn't a movie about sexuality, but more about finding yourself through something you never considered.

What this film accurately portrays is a notion that sexuality isn't so simple. Labels such as straight/gay, friend/lover, sometimes just don't fit the relationships you have with people and most importantly how you view yourself.

I've heard plenty of criticism about this movie and the implications of the ending (I've heard the term "cop-out ending" tossed around more than once...). And I'll readily admit, it might not have ended the way I would have liked, it does not betray its characters.

But see it and form your own opinion.

--tot

[shellybean]

I really hope it plays in my area because it looks great. so I'm guessing by all these things about "cop outs" Jessica doesn't end up with the girl at the end?

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Willow: "Besides, spells going awry, friends in danger...I'm really nothing special."
Tara: "No, you are"
Willow and Tara's first real conversation - "Hush"

"Hear that baby? You're my always"
Willow to Tara - "Tough Love"

"HEY! You're gonna back off! She said no and thats it, you're not going to make her do something that she doesn't want to. And if you try, you're going to have to go through me. Understood?"
Tara standing up for Willlow and being the protective ex and bad ass - "Older and Far Away"

"Hi Tara, How are you? I was wondering if maybe you want to go out sometime? For coffee? food? kissing and gay love?"
Willow practicing asking Tara out - "Normal Again"

[indiepop]

i saw this movie the other day and all i have to say is if you like sweet girls in love this movie's great- IF you leave about 15 minutes before the end. the end made me angry for the rest of the day. all i've got to say is if you're a romantic like me here's the point to leave the theatre:
SPOILERS
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wait until it couldn't get any better about 15 minutes from the end after a very sweet montage about their life together after they move in together. the montage ends with a shot of them dancing together at their gay boy friends' house. get up and go then saying "and they lived happily ever after". that's if you want the happy lesbian ending.

[This message has been edited by indiepop (edited March 16, 2002).]

[Nighteyes]

So what's the actual ending?

[Legs]

There we go again with the non existent happy end for gay couples.... ever! The things these people write, unbelievable!

[This message has been edited by Legs (edited March 16, 2002).]

[christa monsta]

as tot2525 stated, the point of this movie is not about "making a lesbian movie". it's more about new ideas of love and relationships, which i think is very refreshing. i've seen many "lesbian" films that weren't half as good as this. the writing, above all else, was surprisingly good and fun. and everyone ends up happy and in a more well-suited relationship for themselves in the end...you'll have to see it to know what i mean.

but if you're looking for a standard "girl gets the girl" formula, or for hot lesbian sex, don't bother.

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"You can sleep with me!
Well now, that came out a lot more lesbian than it sounded in my head."

[This message has been edited by christa monsta (edited March 17, 2002).]

[Mara]

*sighs* I don't even know if that movie is coming out here in Portugal... =\

I also wanted to see 'Lost and Delirious', but it seems lesbian movies aren't too popular here. I was lucky enough to see 'Mulholland Drive', but it probably only came out here, because it was a David Lynch movie. And even being a Lynch movie, it was only in 3 cinemas in the capital.

Not even sure any of them will be available for video rental... *sighs*

[This message has been edited by Mara (edited March 17, 2002).]

[dusty]

I have not seen this movie, but when I first saw the trailer I thought it looked it was going to have a "cop-out" ending, as many people have said. But now that I've read a lot more reviews of it, I am not so worried. It sounds like while the end might be a cop-out if this were a "lesbian movie", it's not supposed to be that sort of movie. I think it's important to remember that neither of the main character *is* a lesbian, so just because it doesn't end like you would like it to doesn't mean it's falling into some homophobic cliche where the lesbians break up in the end--again, because there are no lesbians. I was definitely worried when I first heard about this movie, but now I think it sounds like the way it ends is right for all the characters. I could change my mind after I see it...but I just think it's important to remember that this is not a "lesbian movie."

[Cipher]

This is going to have some SPOILERS for the movie, but I'll try to have detailed spoilers only for early in the movie, and less-detailed for things later on. I want you to be able to decide if you'd like or be interested in the movie, without seriously spoiling it if you do.

I just saw it and quite liked it. I can understand the disappointment with the not-happily-ever-after ending (I'd rather they stayed happily together), but neither is the ending unhappy. Nor does she end up choosing the guy over the girl; they break up because in the end they just aren't right for each other as lovers, and they move on with their lives both happier than before they met.

The setup is that very-picky Jessica can't find a decent guy. One day her friend is reading personal ads to her and finds one that sounds like exactly the sort of person Jessica is looking for... oh, but it's women-seeking-women. But after her friend walks off Jessica takes the ad and arranges to meet the woman. Open-to-new-things Heather had placed the ad because juggling three boyfriends made her life a mess (or maybe unsatisfying) and she decided to try dating women (bi-curious?). She gets several calls that obviously aren't right for her but then obviously heard from Jessica.

It's interesting that while both women are essentially "experimenting" the movie still seriously explores the effect such experimentation has on a partner who is more serious (but somewhat happier result than on ER with Carrie and Kim). There is also Jessica's reluctance to come out about the relationship to her coworkers/friends and family and how Heather feels about that (again with a happier ending than on ER with Carrie and the firefighter).

And I think throughout the movie the message it has about same-sex relationships is a positive one. There is never a suggestion that their being together is in any way wrong because they are both women. As on Buffy there is some surprise or momentary shock, but it quickly gives way to acceptance (actually slighly comically over-accepting at one point).

I think if you go into it with a negative attitude looking for things to object to you're going to find them and not enjoy it. I think if you take a more positive attitude you'll see that the characters are realistic and things turn out as they should for them, not as you might idealistically want them to. It's not a lesbian love story (if you want that, try Mulholland Drive, which was quite good though a not-so-happy ending), it's a bi-curious romantic comedy (which is a pretty nice change from the usual straight romantic comedy). It's a good movie for straight people to see, and I think it's a good movie for bi-curious or questioning people to see. Is it a good movie for gay/lesbian people to see? That's harder to say (you already know more first-hand about things it brings up), and whether you'll like it at least partly depends on the attitude you bring to it.

Edited to add that Ebert & Roeper just reviewed KJS this weekend and gave it two thumbs up. They had pretty much only good things to say about it and said it was the best romantic comedy they'd seen in a while. They had also been positive on such Kitten favorites as But I'm a Cheerleader and Better Than Chocholate (they go out of their way to call attention to good independent films), so I wasn't surprised they liked KJS as well.

Also, am I confused or did Miss Kitty Fantastico make an appearance?

[This message has been edited by Cipher (edited March 18, 2002).]

[rocketdyke]

i just saw this movie, and i have to say i totally loved it. i even liked the ending. it was very true to the characters. i was nervous about people saying the ending was a cop-out, but honestly, i didnt think it is at all.

i think its more a matter of gay people needing the "happy" ending to be the all gay all naked ending, and i really feel like this movie ended the way it should have. jessica is *straight*, sorry to say, but its pretty obvious through the whole movie. she loved helen, helen loved her, they learned alot from each other, but when its all said and done, this wasnt meant to be a forever relationship... except probably in the friendship sense. i was really happy with them meeting at the end to talk about their respective possible sweeties. i thought it was a very sweet and very honest movie, and i applaud it for being willing to let the characters be *complicated* and messed up and confused, the way most people in real life actually are.

which is a whole other story.

anyway, i say if youre not totally in need of having gayness be the ultimate point to the story, and instead can just be willing to see a story about two girls learning about themselves by falling in love with each other, then you can really enjoy this movie.

my two cents. michele