First, a couple of disclaimers. I searched for this in Café Society, and did not find much and so assume that this is not a redundant thread. Also, I know that the movie has been out for a while, but I just rented it and so have some impressions to share.
On the whole, I found the plot and the writing to be amusing enough but found several elements of this film to be extremely objectionable.
On the pure aesthetic level, Jennifer Westfeldt’s (Jessica) voice was annoying enough to make me want to claw the skin off of my face. On this element alone, I contemplated turning off the movie.
Politically, there were also some things that bothered me. It seemed to me that Jessica needed the stamp of male approval before she was even willing to make love to Helen (a la hetero guys that think lesbianism is hot in the bar). Even then, she deferred to the male when Helen’s sometime boyfriend came by.
Also, it seems that she lacked courage in general. In New York City in this day and age and she is keeping the relationship on the down low? She also seemed to be pretty spineless about telling her mother anything, and needed her (the mom) to bring it up.
In general, I enjoyed watching it and it seems that it is probably a fairly realistic portrayal, but I must say that Jessica in on my list of some of the most unsympathetic protagonists in works of fiction that I have encountered.
Your thoughts?
Um, a hallmark of Jessica’s character was that she didn’t have any guts in anything she did (except her art.) She is basically portrayed as a coward through and through.
I just rented this the other night and I thought it was a great little film. Great writing and really funny.
I found the way she would read her lines, her pacing & timing, to be a spitting image of Helen Hunt’s (and that is not a compliment). She was the worst part of the movie, and a critical factor to my being unable to recommend it.
The movie also relies heavily on playing it cute, skirting around some of the larger issues without really confronting them (and splitting the difference in a cop-out finale). Plus, some of the supporting characters, who are much more interesting and much better acted, are given short shrift. I would have preferred the film to include more scenes about them, instead of having the film revolve around someone so alienating.
I kept thinking she reminded me so much of Lisa Kudrow in her mannerisms and vocal style.
All in all this movie was a bi-curious “Clueless”.
Except Clueless was a lot better and Kissing was not based on Jane Austen
The two starring women were the creators and writers of the movie as well, so I’m going to assume that the finished product was pretty close to what they intended. And that finished product was mostly pleasant and enjoyable, but unadventurous. That might have been the point, to say that the movies may show a world in which lesbianism is a non-issue but ordinary middle-class repressed neurotic Jewish girls are still coming to cope with their feelings.
In my case, I have to say, it was the stereotyped Jewish mother and family that made me want to claw my eyes out, not either of the two leads.