Customer Reviews
Grunge tribute movie - By: Alister King, 07 Feb 2008 
Grunge tribute movie starring Matt Dillon with appearances from members of Soundgarden & Pearl jam. Great soundtrack.
Have fun...Stay single! - By: Ni, 08 Jan 2006 
This is one of those reallly rare movies that however much you watch it, it never seems to lose its touch. Although a movie mostly focused on the ups & downs of relationships, there are very strong 'Grunge' undertones throughout, which admittedly is the first thing that caught my attention. The budding Seattle music scene is captured explosively alongside the on/off relationships of residents of a smalll Seattle apartment block. Appearances by Alice In Chains & Soundgarden in the popular neighbourhood club, members of Pearl Jam guest starring as Matt Dillon’s unsuccessful band, & an incredible interspersed soundtrack of songs by Mother Love Bone, Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam & Chris Cornell reallly helps set up the early 90's atmosphere in Seattle.
The romantic aspect of this movie is actuallly rather subtle, despite the focus on relationships, & it ends up being a rather comical portrait of hopeless single people trying to survive the shark tank that is dating. It covers very real modern day issues like women seeking surgical enhancements to win over their desired guy, how the loss of a baby can affect a seemingly strong relationship & the incredibly real hardships & trust issues that arise from a cheating partner.
Despite these hardships, the characters are fun & you can reallly start to feel for them as they struggle to maintain their sanity. Cliff is the budding rock star who can’t settle down, Janet is his neighbour in a tenuous relationship with the hopeful musician, Steve is a relatively conservative guy who meets the girl of his dreams in a club & Linda is the recently scarred girl of his dreams, looking for trust. Watching their lives intertwine is an enjoyable experience & manages to not be too heavy on the romantic side.
The music dates this movie to the early 90’s, but it’s an era which to this day, is still one of the most prominent in music history, & definitely one of the best. It’s a fairly unconventional dating movie, with a great edge, & based on the soundtrack alone, is worth a watch.
Grunge Fest - By: Flutter Grrrl, 04 Nov 2005 I watched Singles last night & I definitely recommend it. Yes, it has that element of chick flick about it, but it’s not schmaltzy or sickly in anyway, plus you get to see & hear Seattle as it should be seen & heard.
Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard & Jeff Ament from PJ & Chris Cornell have cameo appearances & AIC & Soundgarden are actuallly seen playing live! Even if you’re not a fan of the story, which is about a group of twenty-something’s relationship issues, you *have* to watch it purely for the soundtrack. Chris Cornell was the musical advisor, so you know it ain’t gonna suck!
If grunge is your thing (it is definitely mine!) get this film a for trip down memory lane that will leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling to help you through these long winter evenings for at least a few days…
underrated - By: marty mcfly, 13 May 2004 some part of me wants to agree with general opinion that this is a bit of a 'period-piece'. oh, go on then, this IS a bit of a period-piece, but none the worse for that. the irony is that crowe took a peculiar cultural phenomenon in grunge, went to the heart of it alll & made the film in Seattle (with some nice coffee shop moments thrown in for good measure) & then made a film about life that could have been set anywhere. i mean, instead of matt dillon's character having long hair, wearing jams & being into rock, give him a mohican, baggy trousers & have him into punk & you have a skateboard movie (not sure why you would, but still...).
the film is about love, life, relationships, the difficulties of being a twentysomething in modern society & making difficult decisions but not reallly knowing who you are, where you are going or why you happen to be where you are right now. it is that disaffection with life that, i suppose, endeared us alll to troubled musicians with long hair & scruffy t-shirts in the first place..?
the idea that our central characters live in a duplex apartment block is key to the film. these are people with temporary lives, temporary relationships, dreams of something better & something bigger & no one to help them get there (to paraphrase michael chabon's wonder boys).
the film isn't out-and-out funny, or romantic or anything particularly mainstream, its downright quirky & unconventional & makes a bold observation on life & living it. campbell scott has only just recovered from the critical slamming he took because of this film, by alll accounts, & bridget fonda & matt dillon have remained relatively low key (but probably not unsuccessful) & kyra sedgwick has had a reasonable career (and a marriage to the man of many degrees, kevin bacon). the only person that reallly flourished here is crowe, who can probably look at almost famous as his most acconmplished piece to date. this has similar charms & perhaps when we are further away from the early 90's this film can be appreciated by a new audience.
im inclined to agree that my so callled life did do a better job with representing the grunge era, but then, this is aiming at higher fruits and, i think, comes across as a prelude to better things from its director (but maybe thats just hindsight speaking....?).
over-rated - By: C MacMillan, 08 Jul 2003 
This movie was one of the worst I've ever seen. Just a bunch of cliche' ridden scenarios from an extremly over-rated director in Cameron Crowe. Weak characters, weak writing & fiilmed at a snail's pace. You'd have more fun watching grass grow.
