A Family Affair

Rachel is a Jewish lesbian. Her parents are initially shocked by this revelation (the lesbian part, that is), but have come around so far that they are now leaders of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays). After a long, on again, off again relationship with a woman named Reggie in New York, Rachel moves to southern California and meets Christine.

This romantic comedy stars Helen Lesnick, who also wrote and directed it. Her character breaks the fourth wall frequently, speaking to the camera on and off from the very beginning of the film. While I really enjoyed the film, a couple of minor problems stood out: the actress/writer/director looks much closer to the age of the actress playing her mother than to that of her love interest, and the dialog seemed stilted and occasionally badly overdubbed. I can't help but compare this to "Kissing Jessica Stein," which I saw in Toronto last year but is only now being released in theaters. This film is more real, but is not as inventive or as well delivered, so I would have to give the edge to KJS. Seen at Cinequest (the San Jose, CA film festival) on 3/1/2002.

"A Family Affair" is all about Rachel (Lesnick) who runs from a broken relationship in NY to San Diego where she falls for Christine (Shaffer) only to have her ex try to get her back...etc. Lesnick put this little indie together single handedly and it shows. The film is fraught with deficits including hackneyed material, trite dramatic or flip Woodyesque dialogue, stiff delivery, cost cutting everywhere, and Lesnick really belongs behind the lens. In spite of all that, I was marginally engrossed post climax in the drama of the denouement when the flick consolidates itself and finally gets real. Recommended for anyone who's interested in a romantic comedy about a woman who just happens to be gay. (C+)

Fabulous movie......I was not expecting it to be so funny and interesting at the same time! Everything in it is really exceptionnal, from the actresses, to the script, to the story, to the directing, to the pictures, to the location (san Diego of course)....etc

Two thumbs up, and Congratulations....Continue the great work!

I'm actually in the middle of this movie as I type this review. I had to log on to IMDb to see if I was the only person who found this movie to be completely dreadful. At the moment I'm on a marathon of watching all the LGTBQ movies I can find for free on the internet. This is the first one that I found hard to watch. Christine not only isn't believable in her relationship but she doesn't even make a believable blonde. Rachel is definitely not the 34 she claims to be and she DEFINITELY isn't funny. There's a line between funny cynicism and annoying sarcasm and oh man did she cross it. I did enjoy Rachel's mother, I saw a lot of myself in her, even though I'm probably around 40 years younger then her character.

I guess that's all I have to say except... did that mother just proudly proclaim her status as a WASP? Although you may be proud of all the things that entails, that has never been mistaken as a compliment for anyone. Horrifying.

On just about every level. This is one of the worst lesbian movies ever made (although Claire of the Moon and that John Sayles movie, Lianna, are pretty good contenders as well). Dreadful writing -- cliche upon cliche, that hackneyed talk-to-the-camera shtick, it just goes on and on. And yet she thinks she's clever? Helen Lesnick cannot act and looks to be at least 15 years older than her character claims to be. Bad editing. A cheaply done movie and it looks it. Just bad bad bad. Are we sure this movie wasn't made in the early 80s for film school class?

You want a good lesbian movie, go see the Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love. Go Fish. Bound. Just about anything is better than this waste of celluloid, videotape, bits, whatever.