Recherche Susan désespérément

"Desperately Seeking Susan" isn't so much a homage to the screwball comedy as it is a homage to the screwball situation. It doesn't try to be riotous or anything remotely Ernst Lubitsch — instead, it flutters by with half-smile as it discombobulates the at-first congenial attitude of the atmosphere. Never did I find myself laughing hysterically, but here, that's not the point. It wants to be an amuser in the same mindset as "Pretty in Pink", no knee- slappers to be found but charm spread aplenty. Because that's exactly what "Desperately Seeking Susan" is: a charming comedy of errors that likes to get its characters into as much trouble as possible for satisfactory diversion.

Rosanna Arquette portrays Roberta Glass, a bored housewife who spends her afternoons watching cooking shows and living vicariously through the lonely hearts in the classified ads. Most interesting to her is the recurring 'Desperately Seeking Susan' ad, which follows the romance between Jim (Robert Joy) and his sexy girlfriend, Susan (Madonna), both of whom are young, bohemian, and fiercely independent. As she twiddles her thumbs for the umpteenth time one afternoon, Roberta decides to act as onlooker, tracking the twosome down and watching their public encounter from afar. She becomes infatuated with the street stylish Susan and, after a series of complicated events I won't bother to explain, she bumps her head, gets amnesia, and falls under the impression that, she is, in fact, Susan.

Most housewives would want to be like the free-spirited woman, but Susan, as it so happens, is in a lot of trouble. Her boyfriend has just stolen valuable Egyptian jewelry, jewelry she enjoys wearing, and a gaggle of thugs are thirsty to get their paws on the collection. So as Roberta wanders around the city bearing Susan's name and wearing her clothes, the criminals begin to chase her, while the real Susan causes a ruckus elsewhere — eventually leading to Roberta's confused husband (Mark Blum).

"Desperately Seeking Susan" is the best kind of amusing: pleasant but not so much so that we become immersed in the fact that things aren't as zany as they could be. The film is smartly amusing, after all, with the comic scenario bettering as it grows increasingly convoluted. The screenplay sizzles in its ability to entice us into Susan's world of bohemian style, and the actors are all winning: Arquette, in particular, carries the movie with her sincerely warm characterization. But the best thing about "Desperately Seeking Susan" is Susan Seidelman's great eye for street life: I've never been one to figure a movie is better simply because of the decade it sits in, but Seidelman, intentional or not, finds all the best things about the 1980s and seems to cram them into one excitingly snazzy picture. The ghettos are effectively hip, the suburbs slightly tongue-in-cheek, like "Wild At Heart" if it wasn't crazy. Seidelman's vision is best reflected in Madonna, in her earliest incarnation and her most kitschily well-dressed.

"Desperately Seeking Susan" is slight when it comes to comedy but hugely successful when it comes to pure enjoyment. A product of the times, it has aged gloriously as a nostalgic piece snug in all the right places. And nothing's better than the boho sensuous Madonna (providing the soundtrack with guilty pleasure "Into the Groove") before she got all blond ambitious and stopped looking like the chic spunk who stole records as a pastime.

yay! madonna actually does have one good movie! (and yes, we are talking about this one.) she plays susan, who is the definition of a free-spirit. and rosanna arquette is just as delightful as she always is, and frankly i would expect nothing less.

the soundtrack is an 80s gem. madonna's song "into the grove" is proudly featured and really sets the mood in the club scene. and the 80s fashion provides such an effective blast from the past that one really finds himself back in 1985.

this was overall a really good movie. it was fun and the characters were likable. i recommend that you rent it for an evening in with the friends.

I really enjoyed the concept behind this movie and how all the characters sort of fall into place. The acting is good and the actors really fit their characters. The storyline is well developed, but it could have lost the stolen jewelry piece, it wasn't necessary. A fun mindlessly enjoyable and relatable movie, I think there's a Susan in all of us.

This movie has 5 great things going for it: Madonna, Rosanna Arquette, the soundtrack, shot in 1984 and in New York City. Arquette plays Roberta Glass, a bored and ignored housewife who is obsessed with a couple she reads about in the personals, Jim and Susan. Roberta reads that Jim and Susan will meet at Battery Park the following day, and goes down to watch the two. As Jim and Susan part again for a few days, Roberta decides to follow Susan (Madonna) though the streets and into a clothing store, where Susan trades the store-owner her pyramid jacket for some rhinestone boots. When Susan leaves, Roberta buys the jacket, goes home and finds a key in one of the pockets. Roberta then puts an ad in the paper for Susan to meet her at Battery Park to pick up the key she left in the jacket. As Susan gets to the park, she is arrested for short-changing the cab driver, just as a thug who is after Susan mistakes Roberta for her. Roberta knocks herself out cold accidentally and wakes up believing she is Susan. The rest of the film is non-stop comedic confusion and madness, played out by some great talents including Laurie Metcalf as Roberta's sister-in-law, Leslie, and Aidan Quinn, Robert Joy and Mark Blum as the hapless unfortunate love interests of our heroines. Directed by Susan Seidelman ("Smithereens"). Highly recommended.

As silly as the plot of this film is, it's gotten slightly better with age, containing as it does a little time capsule of the 1980's. There is Madonna's fashion sense and her song Into the Groove of course, but also little things, like how sushi was a new thing in America at the time, or a cameo from the triplets who were all the rage (see the documentary, Three Identical Strangers (2018)). As much as I loved seeing John Turturro and Laurie Metcalf in very early roles for them, I loved seeing comedian Steven Wright even more. He always cracked me up, though he isn't given a lot to work with here. Madonna was on top of the world at this time and is alluring as expected here, and there are feminist messages in both her character's strength and the bored housewife's (Rosanna Arquette) emerging understanding of just how disappointed she is in her husband's inattentiveness. There are massive plot contrivances, like the bonks on the head that conveniently produce amnesia and then later "no amnesia," but it's fun, light-hearted fare.