Rom Com Roundup: Kissing Jessica Stein [10 of 30]
Posted by S. Stills in E, movies, Rom Com Roundup
The Movie: Kissing Jessica Stein
The Blurb: Jessica's a newspaper writer who's dating life is in shambles, whether due to the awful men she meets or the fact that she's nuttier than a Payday bar. When she answers a personal ad due to an affinity for the literary quote a young woman uses, she decides to try her hand at being a lesbian. She starts dating Helen, a young free-spirited bisexual, and learns how to adjust her neuroses to her new relationship, and in the end learns that it's not so much about the men or women in her life, but really her own outlook that has kept her unhappy for so long. Or something. Plus a svelte Jon Hamm's in it, who I'm totally gay for (no pun intended).
The Conventions: catty gay guy friends, frank discussion of how women have sex with each other, bad dating montage!, Barry White as an awkward lovemaking soundtrack, artists are free spirits!
Did I Cry? I felt a little moved when her mother accepted her. It got a little dusty in here.
Current State of Mind: Well this was nice. I got to actually watch a movie that didn't make me cringe or vomit. I really enjoyed Kissing Jessica Stein, and whether that's because it's inherently good or because I just finished watching Good Luck Chuck is up to you to decide, but there was something refreshing about seeing things from the woman's point of view. The only movie I've seen up to now that had a woman's point of view was 27 Dresses, and we all know how well that went.
I was kind of surprised at how conventional this movie was. I don't know why I expected it to be any different just b/c it involved two women, but I did...and I was surprised to see how much I could actually relate to Stein, as neurotic as I am. There's something both entertaining, but also disheartening about the fact that *SPOILER* Helen and Jessica couldn't make it work, mostly because of her bubbling cauldron of totally undertsandable neuroses. And in all honesty, the reason they broke up (not enough sex!) will probably cloud the fact that they should've broken up months, eons ago. It was clear that Helen would lose patience with her, just as clear as Jessica would never be able to fully make herself into what Helen wanted out of a serious lesbian relationship. The double standard here being that as a guy, I don't have the added social pressure of having to get hitched up by the time I'm 30 in the same way most of my female friends do. But I think I have enough neurotic landmines to suffice.
The end of this movie also marked the first movie I've seen where the end didn't result in a nice ribbon-tied-on-a-box ending, which was surprisingly satisfying being that so many rom coms are built around this expectation that the happy ending is coming. It actually made me feel BETTER, not having to watch couples on screen having everything figured out perfectly, realizing that there's no rush when it comes to finding love, or something like it. It was a nice change of pace, probably one that I needed.
Up Next: Music and Lyrics.
