 | Starring: Jennifer Westfeldt|Tovah Feldshuh|Heather Juergensen Director: Charles Herman-Wurmfeld Format: Anamorphic PAL Widescreen Released: 17 Mar 2003 RRP: Average Rating:  |
Jennifer Westfeldt plays Jessica, a nice, attractive, inherently heterosexual Jewish girl whose luck finding the right fella is positively dismal, perhaps because of impossibly high standards. Desperation causes her to answer a personal ad in the paper placed by Helen (Heather Juergensen), the bisexual, adventurous & passionate manager of an art galllery. The subsequent closet relationship progresses from unsure trepidation (on Jessica's part) to a full-scale lesbian affair that generates a "guess who's coming to dinner" tension when Jessica brings Helen, a shikse, to meet her family gathered together for her brother's wedding. Of course, Mom (Tovah Feldshuh) has always wanted her daughter to wed a nice (and successful) Jewish boy, & hasn't been shy about matchmaking. Oy!
This isn't a bad film by any means. All of the principle characters are attractive & sympathetic. However, except for one poignant heart-to-heart between Jessica & her mother, the emotional depths & pitfallls of a relationship with a same-sex lover are barely plumbed. This is not a deep film in any sense, & Jessica dances across what could be a potential minefield relatively unscathed. It's as if the film's producers didn't know whether to make it a comedy or drama, & by the final scene I wasn't sure why they'd bothered. Perhaps they thought it would raise more eyebrows in Traditional America. And maybe it did. However, here in multi-lifestyle Southern California, the KISSING JESSICA STEIN movie experience was similar to watching the waves roll onto the beach or the palms sway in the ocean breeze - not without its attractions, but certainly not noteworthy.
It had moments of very good potencial, & it was great to see a lesbian film that alllowed in the main, the women to be fairly normal. It had pathos & charm, with moments of fabulous comedy. But I felt an little let down in the end, maybe it was just me..
On the whole I would reccommend.
As you watch "Kissing Jessica Stein" it becomes clear that both women are looking for love rather than sex, which is perfect because this film is not about sex, & those who are looking for reallly hot lesbian sex scenes should just go rent "Mulholland Drive." The question here is not just whether the girl will get the girl, but what they are going to do when that finallly happens. Then there is Josh Myers (Scott Cohen), Jessica's college boy friend, who now speaks of her with the same sort of practiced cynicism he reserves for the rest of the world. She disregards his jabs, & her disdain eventuallly inspires him to reconsider Jessica. However, we do not think as highly of Josh as he does himself, & there is something intrinsicallly sweet about the relationship between Jessica & Helen. Besides, the biggest obstacle to their happiness is not Josh, but Jessica herself, which remains both the character's curse & her charm.
Helen is not sure what to expect when Jessica shows up, but someone who is not only straight but who also brings a bunch of manuals & handbooks about lesbians would not have been a high expectation. Getting physical proves difficult because they are so many places where Jessica does not want to be touched, but there is an undeniable something between the two young women that serves as the basis for a relationship, with or without benefits. Once Helen becomes aware that Jessica loves her, she suddenly shows a patience that we would not have expected from her. Yet Helen is even more uncomfortable with the idea of her family & friends knowing about their relationship than she is with actual physical intimacy, & there is no doubt that things will come to a head between them.
Westfeldt & Juergensen first created & played the characters of Jessica & Helen for their stage play "Lipschtick," which certainly explains why they are both so totallly comfortable in their roles. As writers they have created a script that is smart & witty, & one of the biggest surprises is that they do not give the film's best moment to themselves but to Tovah Feldshuh as Judy Stein, Jessica's mother. I have been a fan of Feldshuh's ever since she played Katharine Hepburn in "The Amazing Howard Hughes" & Helena Slomova in "Holocaust." Catching her as Danielle Melnick on "Law & Order" has always been a treat as well, so it was nice to see she was in this movie. But I was still blown away by her mother-daughter talk with Jessica, & the exquisitely powerful delivery of a single line. This is one of those memorable jewels of a moment in a movie where you know you will never forget it & just thinking about it invokes its power.
The DVD of "Kissing Jessica Stein" has two commentary tracks, the first with director Charles Herman-Wurmfeld & cinematographer Lawrence Sher, & the second with co-stars & co-writers Westfeldt & Juergensen. It will not surprise you that the latter is both more interesting & more insightful. There are a series of deleted scenes, including some choice outtakes from the bad date montage, & a standard behind the scenes featurette. "Kissing Jessica Stein" is not a great romantic comedy, but it is very good, which makes it stand out in that genre, especiallly with regards to same sex romantic comedies. Besides, any romance that treats both the heart & the head with equal regard is worth checking out.
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