Rating: 
Summary: Dissing Jessica Stein - straight movie for straight people
Review: How come the mainstream media loves this film? I thought it was a sad and sorry excuse for making a conventional heterosexual love-story without being 'politically incorrect'. It is NOT a film about lesbians and it is definitely NOT a film about same-sex love. Yet the media and many others persist in defining 'same-sex FRIENDSHIP' as lesbian - as if lesbian lovers are just friends and don't desire each other sexually. Now, in the end, the bisexual girl dumps the tedious straight chick for not wanting to have sex with her and that is good, but the main plot is not about that - it's about the straight girl 'finding her way back' from confused sexuality to the love of her ex-ego boyfriend. It is also about the anxieties about coming-out (as if we needed some straight women telling us about that...) and this is filmed in the least credible way: the daugther does not even have to say anything because her conservative, androcentric, Jewish mother has already guessed that she's 'gay'. As if that is likely to happen in real life? You can write 'I'm a lesbian' on your fore-head and most mothers are still able to disregard it...There is nothing radical about this film - it is merely reproducing heteronormative assumptions about lesbians (Jessica Stein is even afraid of having coffe with a 'real lesbian' and doesn't feel comfortable until her date confesses that she has not dated women before either...and they don't have sex until they've asked two straight guys what they think about chicks having sex with each other - as if the 'male gaze' or 'male permission' were the only ways to get them going.). It is a film that straight people can watch without feeling threatened and still feel 'liberal' and 'gay-friendly'. The rest of us will do better off just [dismissing] Jessica Stein all together. Or analyse it in women's studies class.
Rating: 
Summary: Completely Delightful
Review: This movie is a total joy. Sexuality can be a fluid thing...not everyone is 100% gay or straight. Those who sit down to watch this well-written, charming film with an agenda really are missing the point. And they're missing the chance to escape into this terrific flick. Yes, it would be nice to have more gay and lesbian movies that are reality-based...but let's not take it out on this little gem of a film.
Rating: 
Summary: Some people.. just don't get it.
Review: Some people just don't "get it". I really don't understand why. People see "Chasing Amy" and say.. "well she really wasn't GAY then". Characters in the movie say something along the lines of "Well.. you're born GAY." My question is, do you HAVE to be? Is this wrong to decide to come to it on your own terms? Someone quoted on the bottom says that the in the film Jessica only wants her boyfriend to notice her again.. which she accomplishes. Well he DOES notice her again. but, I don't think she ever fell for him again EITHER. Is the viewer saying Jessica as a female (gay,bi or hetero) still can't have a MALE friend? If this is what they are saying then that frightens me.. and does that mean that gay persons hate all others of the opposite gender? The ending isn't a pat Hollywood ending.. but I don't really classify this as the typical "Indie" fare, but.. the women, neither Jessica nor Helen, were GAY. Onto the film. Helen a rather free spirit, and lets just face the fact, promiscuous woman on a whim places a personal ad seeking a woman.. Enter Jessica of the title who answers, hesitantly, and the two hit it off. Neither really have a feel for BEING gay... but I think neither have really found what they wanted where they were. This film tracks the slow and neurotic Jessica on her journey to try and accept who she might be. I will not say Jessica is gay... or straight, that's a value judgment without really knowing someone. Even in the film, you really don't know for sure. Jessica is a guarded, secretive and neurotic but sweet woman. While Helen being kind.. is more a physical agressive type. The film resolves with no answers.. there is no "we see the man and woman ride off into the sunset". This is more akin to "Chasing Amy" but, on a lighter note as opposed to the heavy and rather dramatic ending with a Dave Pirner composition.. It's still very much left open.. sure, you can conclude Jessica ends back up with her boyfriend.. You may think she ends up with the cute girl with glasses.. But the film offers no real answer. It says nothing against gays, or for. Film many seem to want to see as propaganda. And they want it to present a certain "viewpoint". And those films that don't are "explotive, vile, or garbage". People are all different.. and it's nice to see something that.. someone doesn't quite know where they are.. and maybe she is straight, maybe she isn't. I don't know, but I enjoyed seeing her make the connections. It's a character film and surprisingly good performances from the producer and writer of the film, and a turn from Scott Cohen as the frustrated editor. Surprising, perhaps to me, for only noticing before Cohen in a game for the PC called "Ripper" and several tv commercials. Over all though a uniform well acted, and written film.. Sure, at times it may have been too cute.. and times, it may have been too pat.. but at the end of the movie, if a romantic film works.. then it's done its job, this is one of the FEW films in the genre of the last few years that does.. and straight, bi, or gay.. It's still a good watch for anyone... and everyone. While it may not pull your particular "party line", that's ok too.. It's only a movie, its not a speech, or a statement. It doesn't speak for or to everyone.. and its not supposed to.. It shows two people, maybe not the poster girls for any gay organization but it was sweet.. and heartfelt. On the end you go along the journey with someone, isn't that what a good movie is supposed to do?
Rating:
Summary: Not a film about lesbians
Review: This is a movie about dynamics. It's a movie about a slightly (very?) neurotic girl who tries to be a lesbian, and isn't. At least one other review called it an insult to the lesbian community. I don't see how this is, since it's not a movie about the lesbian community. The gay guy in the movie got offended by it - by it's own admission it's not "real" homosexuality -- moreover, one of the main characters realizes she isn't a lesbian. This is a cute romantic movie which treats the subject manner with a fairly good degree of taste, and explores a very interesting human dynamic - not a lesbian dynamic, just one woman. I liked it. I thought it was cute. It wasn't a guy fantasy girl-on-girl thing. It was a movie about the building (and disintegration) of relationships, and one in particular. The writing in the movie was wonderfully personal, detailed, and true to charatcter, and the acting was superb. Spoiler: (not that it hasn't been said here before) So the girl gets the guy in the end - oh well. The other girl gets the girl in the end. It's just life.
Rating:
Summary: fun for the single-gal or word lover
Review: This gem of a story about family, friendship, and opening up to new possibilities is delightful. The clips of Jessica's bad dates (the guy who goes to the gym to get his dorfmans pumping, the accountant who charges her extra for the salad they split because she ate more arugula) alone justifies owning this DVD. Jessica is a witty, literate, bookworm who just can't seem to find her match in NYC, even with the best efforts of her meddling mother and pregnant colleague. When a coworker reads a personal ad aloud that opens with a quote by Rilke, Jessica's interest is piqued -- even after learning that the ad was written by a woman seeking another woman. Jessica hesitates to actually meet the ad's writer, and when she does meet, she claims she can stay for just a minute, -- but she's charmed by the writer's use of the word "marinate," and thus the friendship/romance begins. The movie shows the blurry lines between friendship and more than friendship, encourages to explore who we are, and teaches us that in the end, we can't pretend to be something we're not. There are lots of extra cut scenes, along with commentary by the writer/producer (who also happen to play the lead roles)on the DVD
Rating:
Summary: Decent, funny little movie, on individual terms
Review: This movie, to my mild surprise, had a lot going for it the second time around. I saw it in the theater, originally, and took it as a pleasant little movie about learning to take risks (with an almost incidental twist about sexual preference). Seeing it again, though, I was struck that it's not as simple as the sitcom of your choosing. It's got some ideas in its head -- that Rilke quote about inertia and shyness is one -- and there are several moments when it doesn't give you exactly what you're wanting, which is always a shock of fresh air in a pop movie. Let's see... what's a good example to use of all that? How about the funny little montage of bad dates near the beginning? We're meant to laugh at those, sure -- and hey, a copy editor on a date with a man who describes himself as "self-defecating," that's funny. But Josh has a point at the party a bit later; he lays into Jessica for her quick judgments about all those men, and suddenly their faults don't sound so earthshaking, do they? So, how real were those bad dates? Were those just Jessica's impressions of them? We don't really know. The movie gave us the laughs, but then it asked a question. I like that. Another thing that struck me, both times, was the wonderful casting and the nice writing, even for the minor roles. This isn't like a prefab modern romantic comedy, where at least one of the main characters always has a sort of Greek chorus of zany sidekick friends who feel like assembled parts from the bin of character actors Hollywood keeps out back. Tovah Feldshuh as Jessica's mother is fantastic, in a part that had to be pretty slight on paper. Jessica's pregnant friend at work and Helen's gay friends feel like real individuals, not like the one-episode romantic interests on Friends, you know? The smallest roles are still memorable -- Helen's bike messenger man tries on a cowboy hat, and her jealous lover at the studio glares, and the dissheveled man comes up from the covers with a completely wonderful expression on his face... they're all distinctive and well-played. That's leaving alone the three main roles. Jessica and Helen and Josh are all dead-on. This is the sort of movie that gives its characters good arguments to make, not just lines that represent who they're supposed to be in the story, you know? Sure, Jessica has a modest dash of stock writing: she's Jewish, her mother's trying to fix her up, and so on. But I believed in her, and I liked her, and the questions the movie was asking about her life held my interest -- more than once now. And that's what this one comes down to, I think. If you "buy" the characters, as individuals, then you're going to appreciate the movie. There are going to be some people who can't do that. One of the other reviews here decided the movie wasn't a good example of how lesbianism happens, I guess, and gave it one star. (It's unclear whether that person saw the scene in which the gay couple argues over that exact point. Another question, to the credit of the movie.) These are individuals, not representatives of their races or classes or anything else. They aren't making up the rules for all Jewish people, or all lesbians -- the movie's about how, having been kissed, Jessica has some choices to make, and decides, tentatively, to make up her own rules with Helen. And if you don't try to make the decisions for her, you'll probably enjoy watching.
Rating:
Summary: Dissing Jessica Stein
Review: This film, while cute and a celebration of the quirky (okay, neurotic), was a real disappointment. It is a mainstream Hollywood film masquerading as an indie film about lesbians. It is not raw nor is it a realistic depiction of lesbian relationships. For starters, both women at the opening of the film aren't even gay. They each decide to experiment with a same sex relationship, which fails miserably because whalla! Jessica Stein isn't really gay, and all she really needed was for her egocentric ex-boyfriend to notice her again. Oddly enough, she accomplishes this by having a relationship with a woman. ... It was a film with promise, which disappointed and insulted the lesbian community. This film reinforces the hetero belief that being gay is centered upon who you sleep with, and not the connections made with that person.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutley the funniest movie I now own
Review: If their names were Ben and Matt they would have all kinds of awards. I loved everything from the references to the butchering of the english language to the quirky co-workers. The family scenes rival those in Greek wedding. I hope they make more movies of this caliber.
Rating:
Summary: Instantly one of my favorite top 10 movies ...
Review: I cannot say much that hasn't already been said much better in these reviews, but can add my whole-hearted praise for "Kissing Jessica Stein." It features characters with such extraordinary depth and heart not seen in modern-day cinema; you can practically feel what a tight-knit community these characters are, and how much caring and heart is in each of them, what they have to give to the world. Stephen King, at the end of "The Langoliers," said of his characters that they seemed "somehow brighter than anyone ... More actual. More there." That could be said of these characters, for we're taken so deeply into who they are. Such characterizations are a credit to the actors' performances as well as to the writers. It's rare, though, that such characterizations are joined by an almost flawlessly written comic screenplay delivered with near-perfect comic timing, and a great soundtrack (as better detailed in others' comments). I can only add my heartfelt agreement that it would be a true shame if this movie is ignored at this year's Academy Awards in favor of the tripe usually labeled to the public by the studios.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as I thought...
Review: Turns out that this film is just another "Chasing Amy" or "Three of Hearts" story. Girl get girl, girl loses girl, girl gets guy. In who's universe does this type of thing even happen? This is just another male fantasy film of getting two women in bed together. If you want a good film with a good story try "When Night is Falling". Thought the film was going to be a comedy but there really isn't much in it to laugh about except the story on a whole. In fact it is rather said how the whole thing plays out. Why's the writer's even bother showing all the struggle of coming out to ones family and having the mother so quickly except things, if she isn't going to spend more than six month's with this woman before going back to a man? It does not make sense and ruins the film.
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