Kissing Jessica Stein

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.

Jessica is Jewish, uptight, slightly neurotic and single. Everyone around her is married, dating, pregnant or something and she has to take grief from her family who want to see her "happy". Try as she might she can't find a guy that she likes enough to see twice. So when she sees an advertising from a woman looking for company she strangely finds herself responding and turning up to meet the bisexual Helen. The easy chat they have overcomes Jessica repulsion at the whole idea and soon they have become more than just friends. However can Jessica accept the truth herself far less be honest with others.

This is a strange mix of a film that mostly does enough to work. In some ways it seems to be a quirky independent film but in many ways it is just an OK mainstream comedy. Jessica herself seems to be a strange mix between the neurotic side of Woody Allen, the quirky side of Ally McBeal and the female side of Bridget Jones. It is a strange mix but it more or less works as a piece of entertainment even if it isn't as sassy and fresh as it thinks it is. The relationship between Jessica and Helen is delivered in a pacey fashion that doesn't quite ring true due to the lack of depth to it but it does enough to keep things moving along. Laughs are not that common but the general amusing air carries it along and, although the romance is basic and the characters thin, they it is easy viewing and they still engage if you are in an undemanding mood.

Westfeldt overplays her neurotic character a little bit but she just manages to keep her convincing. She has an easy chemistry with Lake which really helps cover up the lacking material they both have to deal with; it helps that they wrote it and were probably very in touch with what they were trying to do, even if they didn't necessarily do what they could have done. The rest of the cast pretty much match them in turning in workable but unspectacular performances – not their failing but more to do with the fact that the script is breezy and light and not something a lot of depth can be brought out of. Herman-Wurmfeld's direction matches the light material and keeps it breezy.

Overall this is a pretty sweet little film although not as fresh and fun as it thinks it is. The two leads could have done more as writers but they do have a good feel for the material and their performances help cover the material. Not many laughs or insights but it is consistently amusing and nice enough to be worth watching if you are looking for something undemanding.

Jessica Stein (Jennifer Westfeldt) is a hopelessly single gal in the city. Her Jewish mother Judy (Tovah Feldshuh) is very concern. Everybody is getting married and moving on. She has nothing but bad dates. She thinks she's getting set up with Charles (Jon Hamm) but he's actually taken. At the group diner date, co-worker Josh Meyers (Scott Cohen) insults her with biting insights and cruelty. Helen Cooper (Heather Juergensen) is a bisexual art gallery assistant who places an intriguing personal ad. Jessica decides to answer it.

Westfeldt is playing the neurotic city girl. It's her goto move. It's cute. It's awkward. It has some fun. It's not particularly profound. It feels like a straight person's vision of a gay relationship. Everybody's life is different. I can buy into this relationship. It just pushes too hard with too many cute moments with cute awkward Westfeldt. It feels too light weight when the material keeps begging to be darker. It feels too much like a TV sitcom for too long.

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'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.