Single White Female (1992)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Barbet Schroeder

Writers (WGA):

John Lutz (novel)
Don Roos (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 August 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Allie's new roommate is about to borrow a few things without asking. Her clothes. Her boyfriend. Her life.

Plot:

When a 'Single White Female' places an ad in the press for a similar woman to rent a room (to replace the boyfriend she's just left)...

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Death | Puppy | Twins | Software

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bridget Fonda	...	Allison 'Allie' Jones
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Hedra 'Hedy' Carlson
Steven Weber	...	Sam Rawson
Peter Friedman	...	Graham Knox
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Mitch Myerson
Frances Bay	...	Elderly Neighbor
Michele Farr	...	Myerson's Assistant
Tara Karsian	...	Mannish Applicant
Christiana Capetillo	...	Exotic Applicant
Jessica Lundy	...	Talkative Applicant
Renée Estevez	...	Perfect Applicant (as Rene Estevez)
Tiffany Mataras	...	Twin
Krystle Mataras	...	Twin
Amelia Campbell	...	Check Cashier
Kenneth Tobey	...	Desk Clerk (as Ken Tobey)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexuality, and for violence and language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Hong Kong:III | Portugal:M/18 | New Zealand:R16 (re-rating) | New Zealand:RP13 (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Singapore:R21

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Bridget Fonda had the choice of playing either the Allie role or the Hedy role. She ended up choosing to play Allie, because she said it was a harder role.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Allison is strangled in the elevator, there is a small hole in her shirt where she was shot a couple minutes earlier, but no bloodstain. However a few minutes later a bloodstain appears and her arm is fully functional to fight Hedy.

Quotes:

Hedra Carlson: [looking for Allison] Ally? Ally, come out of hiding now! I'm scared!

Movie Connections:

Featured in This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

Soundtrack:

TRIO SONATA IN C, RV 60

Unusually good, a solid addition to the genre, but not without flaws

The "stranger comes into main characters' life, screws everything up and then tries to kill them" sub-genre of the thriller genre is(or was, in the early 90's) popular, and this addition to it might, at first glance, seem like it's every bit as shallow and predictable as the next one. However, it deserves a closer look, since on closer inspection, it displays a very accurate and credible psychological portrayal of the villain, some top-notch acting and some pretty good cinematography. The plot is fairly standard for the genre, as are the twists. No real surprises here. The pacing is quite good; the film is never truly boring. The visuals are nice, but not really anything exceptional. The acting is quite impressive... everyone gives in a credible performance. The real force of this film, however, is the incredibly psychologically accurate behavior and presentation of the villain. Every action of hers, every train of thought was entirely psychologically accurate, as far as I could tell(through my new-found love for and somewhat sparsely educated experience in psychology). The film has some very direct and revealing scenes of nudity and sex. They aren't exactly explicit(we're not talking soft-core here), but they don't leave that much to the imagination, either. Definitely not for the faint of heart or the easily offended(though I've never understood why someone could be offended by something as natural as nudity). Then there's of course the lesser parts of this film... notice how everything I've written up to this point has been either positive or neutral? Well, that's about to change. The death scenes are more than unusually unrealistic, and they pretty much lose any shock effect because of this. The film is littered with the same usual clichés that plague the other films of the genre. In the end, the film doesn't really hold any surprises to fans of the sub-genre. The old saying is pretty much true, even in the case of this film... "If you've seen one, you've seen them all." All in all, better than most of this type of film, but still far from perfect. I recommend it to fans of the genre, the actors or skin-flicks(since there is a fair bit of skin in the film by the three leads). 7/10