La Tentation de Jessica

This movie is often described as 'When Sally met Sally...', and that is an accurate portrayal of what this movie is. It's a love story like any other, but this story is different. We have the normal 'two people meet and fall in love' scenario, but the difference here is that these two characters are the same sex, and that's what sets the film apart from it's counterparts. The central character is the lady from the title; Jessica Stein. Jessica is caught in a New York metropolis; populated by shallow people, people that are more interested in setting dates up with their friends and learning the dictionary cover to cover than they are in forming proper relations with people. This is the reason that Jessica can't find herself a man, she isn't happy to settle for second best and she wants more from a relationship than any man she knows can give her. So, after being told why she can't find herself a man by her big-headed colleague, Josh Myers; Jessica decides to step outside of her box a little and answers an ad in the 'women seeking women' section of the newspaper.

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.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was hilarious, and very familiar at some degree. Everything in the movie went well until the end. I honeslty wish it would have turned out a little differnet then it did, but otherwise, it was funny, and very touching.

I've wanted to watch this movie for a long time, but time has passed and I've always pushed for later. Well, it finally happened, and I'm glad it did.

Basically what I have to say, trying to avoid spoilers, is that the script (more specifically the dialogues) and the work of the actors are really incredible, two very talented actresses and little known to me until then, the direction is very competent, the soundtrack is quite pleasant, only the story itself is silly and forgettable, as well as the plot has some flaws and an ending with no guts in my opinion (to say that the ending has no guts is a spoiler?). So, basically, it's a movie that is worthwhile for the pleasantness of the dialogues and scenes and for the work of interpretation than for the inane story itself.

I even went to get more information about the actresses' work after this film, but one of them almost didn't work anymore and the other one only did some second-rate work. I don't know if somehow there was some prejudice with the theme of "Kissing Jessica Stein" that prevented them from taking off professionally, which would be really a shame, because they did a beautiful job here.

Overall a cute movie, 6.5 out of 10.

There are so few lesbian genre films "OUT" there. And for those lesbian genre films that do exist most have characters that are either disturbed psychopaths (my favorite- Heavenly Creatures) or cardboard cutout prototypes that have no place in my world. As result, unfortunately most lesbians are starved for good lesbian genre films. The best lesbian roles have usually been played out in supporting role characters within the main stream. To appease the appetite, `gaydar' commands an ever watchful eye to find those precious tidbits.

However, thank heavens for the charming wit and refreshingly real characters in "Kissing Jessica Stein". "Kissing Jessica Stein" goes beyond the stereotypical to explore individual characters for who they are and what they are going through in their lives. The film is a positive reinforcement on the value of relationships to an individual's personal growth and spiritual evolution.

"Kissing Jessica Stein" is a highly intelligent romantic comedy that goes deep to explore emotional relationships: Not only between Jessica and Helen but also between Jessica and her Mother, Jessica and Josh, other co-workers and all of their friends. The film highlights the importance of discovering yourself and of letting those that love and care about you know who and what makes you happy. Ultimately anyone that truly loves you wants you to be happy. Jessica and Helen's continued deep friendship after their breakup is testament to this. Jessica's painting, Josh's true love for writing and Helen's continued enjoyment of a lesbian sexual relationship is also testament.

All is true to the spiritual core of the writers intent. There is no definitive end to ongoing life. The writers cleverly leave us to "marinate" within our own imaginations.

I would like to begin by saying that this is most definitely not a bad a movie. For anyone starved by the vapid potboilers showing today, this movie offers a refreshing change. What it does not do, however, is distinguish itself in any positive way.

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.