Singles

What I liked most about Singles was that many of the characters you could identify with. Its not often in a film where you can look at characters and think - I know someone like that. Its actually very accurate in the way it depicts the attitudes of twenty somethings who have been through a series of less than successful relationships. There are some great, and very funny scenes in this film, and the actors all put in great performances. Setting it in Seattle- the home of the Grunge band was a fantastic idea as well.

Having lived in Seattle during the years of my life most of the characters are in this movie, I was able to relate to this movie. Anyone who has lived in an apartment complex where people have dated and known a bit too much about each other can appreciate this film. The cameo appearances of members of pearl jam and xavier mcdaniel were a great touch.

The viewer is left with what I could call a warm feeling much like watching the sun set on a day towards the end of summer. Contemplation of all the good and bad that may have occurred in the last few months..

Maybe that's a bit too abstract, but if this movie gets you there then fine.

And yes, the sun does shine sometimes in Seattle!

1st watched 11/14/2004 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Cameron Crowe): Cute, funny and sincere attempt to chronicle a singles life in the 90's in Seattle. What I liked about this movie is that all the single people know that they need "someone", which is the constant struggle that goes on in their lives, but finding that "someone" isn't as easy as we think it would be. This movie does a good job of showing this. It is well-written, funny, played out well by the stars and has a nice soundtrack to fill in the voids.

It's about "people" and it has a style like a chronicled life where the characters every once in a while talk to the camera as if their lives are being documented. Excellent effort by Crowe and his crew to bring this segment of society into view for all of us.

Love. Sex. Friendship. Companionship. These are the themes obviously explored in Cameron Crowe's early movie Singles, which revolve around the love lives of singles (naturally) living in a common apartment. We follow each of the protagonist Steve (Campbell Scott), Janet (Bridget Fonda), Cliff (Matt Dillon) and Linda (Kyra Sedgwick) through their ups and downs in dealing with the weird little emotion called Love.

Well, not quite. As we know early in the film, each have problems and their own peculiar viewpoints on the dating scene. We see Linda meeting and breaking up with a Spanish student she was so into, after seeing through his lies and sweet talk. It hurts, and she doesn't want to be hurt again. Steve too have had a bad experience, and (I can identify with this) swears off relationships for the next few years, deciding instead to focus on career. As Fate would have had it, these two will meet at the unlikeliest places and get into a relationship.

Cliff, an aspiring rocker, seemed to have taken his girlfriend Janet, for granted. And I think this is something that most people can identify with. When efforts go unappreciated, or when things go mundane, the question is, do you want to bail out? And when you do, what next? Would you give the ex another chance? If you do, how would you approach it? It's fun watching a movie that was made 13 years ago, and you wonder about how the initiating and sustaining of a relationship back then happened without technology which we are so used to these days. Back then, a mobile phone was a cordless one, and there is no such thing as an instant message, but an answering machine. Where Speed Dating was unheard of, but Video Dating was the rage (check out the funny Tim Burton cameo).

You wonder too about the career of the leads. Campbell Scott was noticed by many after his pairing with Julia Roberts in the movie Dying Young, but after this, seemed to have vanished into obscurity. And so has Kyra Sedgwick. Only Matt Dillon and Bridget Fonda are still around, somewhere.

Oh, the music. Peppered throughout the movie is the wonderful musical tracks that always seem to punctuate a particular moment succinctly. I like Tarantino and Crowe movies because music plays an integral part of the entire experience, and Singles too had excellent ballads blended with grunge rock, say, Pearl Jam (before they made it huge), which also made an appearance.

It's a beautiful, quirky little movie with excellent identifiable dialogue, music, humour, and a younger cast of stars whom we know today, thrown into situations that everyone in love would have experienced.

This was a 90's version of all those high school films in the 80's some of us are old enough to remember.

We deliberately date the film and tap into the grunge era of Seattle. When done on purpose....it can be done very well. This was.

We see the baggy shorts and layered flannel on the guys, the leggings and quirky hats on the girls, and the disheveled hair on both. But funnily enough, this flick was in production BEFORE that scene took off. As a result what seemed like cashing in was actually foresight.

The relationships unfolding in the apartment complex were done realistically and the scenes involving the band will be enjoyed by anyone into that era's music. And Campbell Scott almost steals this film. His idea for the city was actually a good one.

And yes that is 3 members of Pearl Jam as Matt Dillons backup band. And see if you can spot Chris "Soundgarden" Cornell coming out to watch Matt show off his new car speakers.

So 90's. But very enjoyable.