Bar Girls

Every so often in a movie you come across a characterization that goes beyond the theme and text of the movie itself and provides a portrayal of a character that could be taken as a whole and used as the basis for a separate movie. Such is the character of J.R. portrayed by Camilla Griggs which, surprisingly, is rarely commented upon by reviewers of this movie. Too often she is seen only in contrast with Loretta's feelings and as the antagonist but her character, her personality, what she's looking for and how she goes about it and about meeting her needs is unusual and she could be viewed separately and appreciated. My suggestion is to watch the movie through once and then watch it a second time, paying particular attention to the character of J.R., to how she relates to her newly come by job, her newly come by girlfriend and the others in her life including Loretta. I'm amazed that I haven't seen Camilla Griggs in anything else because she's certainly a talent.

Director Marita Giovanni's film is based on a play by Lauran Hoffman. Hoffman's material may get tied up in psychobabble but she has an ear for entertaining dialogue and mercilessly avoids the archness usually associated with lesbian drama. Set around an LA Girl bar it focuses on Loretta (Nancy Allison Wolfe), a beautiful red-haired cartoonist, and her romance with actress Rachel (Liza D'Agostino).

Wolfe's performance is droll and moving, and she manages to throw off the bad ideas Giovanni and Hoffman aim at her. She also deliberately approximates the glamour of Rita Hayworth from Gilda. Her apartment features the famous poster of Hayworth smoking, as well as a huge closeup of Lotte Lenya's eyes. The character of Rachel is less interesting though D'Agostino holds her own with Wolfe in their fight scenes. I also like Loretta's ditzy friend Veronica (Justine Slater), a straight woman `enchanted' by the idea of a lesbian affair. Those wanting to see a graphic sex scene will not be disappointed but it felt to me Giovanni cut away at a climactic (no pun intended) moment.

The awful soundtrack suggests the film's low budget, as does the underpopulated bar, though this underpopulation serves Hoffman's incestuous roundelay theme. Note a cameo by Chastity Bono at Scorpio night.

I was hoping for a few laughs when I got into the movie. What I found was something was more like a documentary (a day in the life of....). Having coached women's athletics for many years, I've seen a lot of the lesbian lifestyle and this movie came closer to portraying my view of a lesbian's life than any other that I've seen.

Low budget? Yes. Absolutely. And the "bar" is embarrassing to the rest of the movie. Upgrade it just a bit and the movie gets quite a bit better. And the copette toward the end of the movie is a bit too stereotypical. Both in appearance and behavior.

A very entertaining, but not a particularly funny comedy.

Wolfe, however, is now high on my list of people that I'd like to meet.

Terrible terrible terrible film.

The acting was atrocious.

The storyline was weak. The subplots were just plain...bad.

The lovescenes were boring.

The characters were unbelievable.

The sets were unrealistic and ugly.

The music was horrible.

The inter spliced "comic" was possibly the most interesting part.

Good film to watch if you want to die of boredom.

Any film starring a cowboy hat wearing lesbian police officer with the hairdo of a weather presenter in cowboy boots playing basketball called JR should be used as an alternative to corporal punishment.

I think this is possibly the worst film that I have ever seen.

This is a very likeable movie about some lesbians looking for love, especially the main character, who thinks she might have finally found someone long lasting -- if she doesn't mess it up somehow. I would have liked it better if the acting and writing wasn't so amateurish at times; the likeability of the characters and (for some) the subject matter does make it worth watching. Besides, sometimes the unpolished and well tad bit bad quality of the film is unintentionally amusing. One question: why is the most sexy scene not one when one of the lesbians who actually like each other are together? If you like this, I suggest "The Incredibly True Story of Two Girls in Love," and "Desert Hearts."