Jessica Stein, une femme célibataire à la carrière réussie, réalise qu'elle n'est pas aussi hétéro qu'elle le croyait quand elle noue une amitié intense avec une femme d'affaires, Helen Coop... Tout lireJessica Stein, une femme célibataire à la carrière réussie, réalise qu'elle n'est pas aussi hétéro qu'elle le croyait quand elle noue une amitié intense avec une femme d'affaires, Helen Cooper - amitié qui finit par tourner à l'idylle.Jessica Stein, une femme célibataire à la carrière réussie, réalise qu'elle n'est pas aussi hétéro qu'elle le croyait quand elle noue une amitié intense avec une femme d'affaires, Helen Cooper - amitié qui finit par tourner à l'idylle.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Récompenses
- 8 victoires et 3 nominations au total
Avis à la une
If the film limited its scope to growth through discovery and self- realization, such that Jessica overcame her neurotic perfectionism and Helen surpassed her hedonism, it would have been a much better movie. Unfortunately, it is far too self-conscious and desultory, like Jessica herself, expecting to accomplish too much while delivering too little, wondering over far too much time, and ending without adequately addressing the relationship issues it began with. Indeed, while it "pretends" to question conventional relationship values, it actually promotes them, after a brief detour which mostly begs the question. No doubt it was intended to provoke, but like Jessica, mostly it's just a tease.
Westfeldt is playing the neurotic city girl. It's her goto move. It's cute. It's awkward. It has some fun. It's not particularly profound. It feels like a straight person's vision of a gay relationship. Everybody's life is different. I can buy into this relationship. It just pushes too hard with too many cute moments with cute awkward Westfeldt. It feels too light weight when the material keeps begging to be darker. It feels too much like a TV sitcom for too long.
Enter Helen Cooper; the lady that placed the ad, and seasoned bi-sexual. She's sexy, quirky, funny and all together lovable; as Jessica says at one point; "Who wouldn't want to have sex with you?", and that is my thoughts entirely. At first, Jessica is cautious, she is predominantly straight at the end of the day and she's in over her head at first. However, the two hit it off almost immediately, and we get to watch their romance blossom. The fact that lesbianism (or homosexuality in general) is taboo is always apparent throughout this film. Helen is more of a free spirit, and the only friends of hers that we see are gay anyway, so she is always open about it. It's not the same story for Jessica, however; she's always been straight, so being open about such a relationship isn't so easy for her. That's the second half of this story; not only is it a comedy; it's also a social commentary, and it rings true not just for this subject; but just about anything that people do that isn't of the norm.
The two leads are played very well by Jennifer Westfeldt (Jessica) and Heather Juergensen (Helen). These two not only do the acting, but they also wrote the film. It is evident that women wrote it, as it has a very feminine feel throughout. There is no sex in the movie, which might disappoint some viewers and instead the movie focuses on the relationship between the women and the impact that it has on their lives. This is a very good thing, as what could have been lost in a myriad of nudity and sexual innuendo, actually comes off as a very personal study of a taboo relationship. The film is also very funny. The humour on offer isn't overly blatant, and is mostly very dry; but it's definitely there and certain moments of the film literally had me in stitches.
Despite all that I've so far, however; this movie isn't perfect. The character of Jessica, although obviously born of the social-conscious New York atmosphere, and therefore it is to be expected, sometimes goes over the top and can come across as being very annoying. Aside from that, the film features far too much music. It's practically saturated in it, and it's always that sad women's elevator music that I hate. The film also loses steam in it's third act, and never regains the humour and pace of the first two. Like (too) many romance films, Kissing Jessica Stein features an ambiguous ending. Call me old fashioned, but I like a film to end properly and therefore I don't like ambiguous endings, so that was a turn-off for me. However, Kissing Jessica Stein is an underrated gem and is most definitely romantic comedy at the top of it's game. See it, you won't regret it.
My main complaint with this film is its vapid intellectualism. Quoting famous authors and using lots of fancy (even foreign) words is all good in principle, but when you fail to capture the secular humanism that all great art and literature represent you might as well be reading a McDonald's menu. To illustrate this, Jessica begins the film at a job she hates and with only the memories of a failed relationship. She ends the film in another job she hates and with only the memories of another failed relationship. Where is the personal growth? Why are we watching this? The person that wrote this story seems to believe that simply because one relationship was hetero and the other homosexual, this somehow makes things different. I do not draw such distinctions.
Another thing I did not like about the film was its poor characterizations. The arguments in the film are so trivial that it depends on deep characters to make us believe they are real. I mean anyone that requires literature to get into the act of sex is really missing the point! From a masculine point of view the entire sexual experimentation shown in the film is as bland and uninteresting as the men Jessica is shown dating.
One last comment I would like to make is that the thing this movie does best is bring itself down. Routinely Jessica is told, "You're too obsessed with perfection in others", and that is exactly true for the entire film. She is also told "you're too conservative sexually for this kind of lifestyle", and this is true as well. What I would like to see is some kind change in Jessica to identify with these issues. To use a quote, "we must learn to be happy because of and not in spite of our flaws". Rent Manhattan for a true thinking person's film, and leave this on the shelf.
This is a strange mix of a film that mostly does enough to work. In some ways it seems to be a quirky independent film but in many ways it is just an OK mainstream comedy. Jessica herself seems to be a strange mix between the neurotic side of Woody Allen, the quirky side of Ally McBeal and the female side of Bridget Jones. It is a strange mix but it more or less works as a piece of entertainment even if it isn't as sassy and fresh as it thinks it is. The relationship between Jessica and Helen is delivered in a pacey fashion that doesn't quite ring true due to the lack of depth to it but it does enough to keep things moving along. Laughs are not that common but the general amusing air carries it along and, although the romance is basic and the characters thin, they it is easy viewing and they still engage if you are in an undemanding mood.
Westfeldt overplays her neurotic character a little bit but she just manages to keep her convincing. She has an easy chemistry with Lake which really helps cover up the lacking material they both have to deal with; it helps that they wrote it and were probably very in touch with what they were trying to do, even if they didn't necessarily do what they could have done. The rest of the cast pretty much match them in turning in workable but unspectacular performances not their failing but more to do with the fact that the script is breezy and light and not something a lot of depth can be brought out of. Herman-Wurmfeld's direction matches the light material and keeps it breezy.
Overall this is a pretty sweet little film although not as fresh and fun as it thinks it is. The two leads could have done more as writers but they do have a good feel for the material and their performances help cover the material. Not many laughs or insights but it is consistently amusing and nice enough to be worth watching if you are looking for something undemanding.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesThe cab scene where Helen and Jessica talk about blending lipstick was filmed after the filmmakers hailed a cab, paid the driver $20, the director drove, the director of photography was in the front seat and the sound woman climbed in the back trunk.
- GaffesWhen Jessica and her mother are getting their bridesmaids dresses fitted, Helen is upset to learn that Jessica never mentioned her brother's upcoming wedding. But the wedding would surely have been discussed at the Shabbat dinner at the Steins' that Helen attended three months prior.
- Citations
Jessica: You don't appreciate the chaos and absurdity of life on this planet. You don't understand irony, or ethnicity, or eccentricity, or poetry, or the simple joy of being a regular at the diner on your block. I love that. You don't drink coffee or alcohol. You don't over eat. You don't cry when you're alone. You don't understand sarcasm. You plod through life in a neat, colorless, caffeine free, dairy free, conflict free way. I'm bold and angry and tortured and tremendous and I notice when someone has changed their hair part, or when someone is wearing two very distinctly different shades of black or when someone changes the natural temperment of their voice on the phone. I don't give out empty praise. I'm not complacent or well-adjusted. I can't spend fifteen minutes breathing and stretching and getting in touch with myself. I can't spend three minutes finishing an article. I check my answering machine nine times every day and I can't sleep at night because I feel that there is so much to do and fix and change in the world, and I wonder every day if I am making a difference and if I will ever express the greatness within me, or if I will remain forever paralyzed by muddled madness inside my head. I've wept on every birthday I've ever had because life is huge and fleeting and I hate certain people and certain shoes and I feel that life is terribly unfair and sometimes beautiful and wonderful and extraordinary but also numbing and horrifying and insurmountable and I hate myself a lot of the time. The rest of the time I adore myself and I adore my life in this city and in this world we live in. This huge and wondrous, bewildering, brilliant, horrible world.
- Crédits fousFor our parents.
- ConnexionsEdited into Sex at 24 Frames Per Second (2003)
- Bandes originalesPut on a Happy Face
Written by Lee Adams & Charles Strouse
Performed by Blossom Dearie
Courtesy of Strada Music Co. (ASCAP) and Capitol Records
Through arrangement with EMI-Capitol Special Markets
Meilleurs choix
- How long is Kissing Jessica Stein?Alimenté par Alexa
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Site officiel
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Kissing Jessica Stein
- Lieux de tournage
- Sociétés de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Budget
- 1 000 000 $US (estimé)
- Montant brut aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 7 025 722 $US
- Week-end de sortie aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 346 999 $US
- 17 mars 2002
- Montant brut mondial
- 10 013 424 $US
- Durée1 heure 37 minutes
- Couleur
- Mixage
- Rapport de forme
- 1.85 : 1