Kissing Jessica Stein

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

Twenty-eight-year-old Jessica Stein, a Jewish copyeditor living and working in New York City, is plagued by failed blind dates with men, and decides to answer a newspaper’s personal advertisement containing a quote from Rilke that she had read and admired earlier. The advertisement has been placed by Helen Cooper, a thirtysomething bisexual art gallerist who is seeking a lesbian relationship to replace her unsatisfying and meaningless sex with men.

Given some of the men Jessica is shown to be test-dating at the start of the film, ranging from borderline gay to nerd, some would probably say that it’s no surprise she’d want to fan out her prospects a little. As nervous as Jessica is about dating Helen, she realizes after a surprise kiss that even a different experience can be good. Through the early part of their relationship, Jessica finds in Helen everything she’d dreamed of finding in a man. They are compatible, they like many of the same things, and they are caring for one another. Even when Helen gets sick—which she says earlier in the film never happens to her—Jessica is there to care for her.

The only predicament for the relationship is Jessica’s nervousness concerning same-sex intimacy. Over the early weeks of their relationship, she and Helen slowly work on building up her confidence in this area by gradually extended make-out sessions. Eventually, they graduate to full intimacy, which is initiated by Jessica during an over night stay at her parents’ home in Scarsdale. In spite of Jessica’s happiness with Helen, she keeps the relationship secret. Jessica’s secrecy means that she has to endure scenes that would not happen had she been open about the two of them. One example occurs during a dinner to celebrate her brother’s engagement. Her mother had invited an IBM executive in hopes of setting him up with Jessica.

Helen and Jessica later get into a quarrel about Jessica’s refusal to inform her family of their relationship, resulting in an apparent breakup. It isn’t until later, as her brother’s wedding approaches, that her mother figures out that they are dating. Her mother reminds Jessica of when she was little and had been given the lead in the school play, but after the first rehearsal, Jessica had deemed her co-star not to be up to the task. She quit the play because she thought the play wouldn’t be “the best ever.” Her mother says that she worries about Jessica having this attitude towards life, and that sometimes she thinks back to that night and thinks that if Jessica went on, maybe it wouldn’t have been the best, but it might have been pretty good—and who knows, maybe it would have been the best ever. She then tells Jessica that she thinks Helen “is a very nice girl.”

This acceptance on her mother’s part gives Jessica the confidence to come out in the open with her relationship with Helen, and invites her as her guest to her brother’s wedding. Helen quickly becomes popular with the other women at the reception, who don’t seem to mind at all her lesbian relationship with Jessica. At the same time, Jessica gets a love confession from her ex-beau and current boss Josh, who declares he’s had for a long time feelings for her. Jessica rejects him, explaining that she already has Helen. Jessica and Helen move in together, but their relationship, while good in most respects, begins to suffer from a lack of frequent sexual intimacy. Jessica’s behavior towards Helen is more akin to that of a sister or friend rather than a sexual partner. The relationship ends amidst Jessica’s tears and Helen’s realization that she wants more than Jessica is willing to offer. After moving beyond the heartbreak, Jessica and Helen appear to remain friends, and it is suggested that Jessica might have now a renewed interest in Josh, after both have left the newspaper where they both previously worked.

REVIEW:

Back in college, I can remember watching Kissing Jessica Stein one afternoon while I was sick. Now, keep in mind, I was your typical college male, so the thought of a film about lesbians intrigued the hell out of me.

Yes, ladies, I am  more than aware of how you do not understands why it is that we guys are so fascinated with you homosexual sisters, and yet disgusted with our brothers. As a matter of fact, there is a scene fairly early on in this picture where they actually ask that question.

There are good and bad parts to this film. Let’s have a change of pace and start with the bad…

I realize that these people are Jewish and all, but I just couldn’t get past how they were beating the audience over the head with it. Picture the way Glee makes sure that we know who is gay and who isn’t and multiply by 100, that’s how bad they get with the Jewish stuff. The only thing missing were the stereotypical bagels and lochs and the guys with the curly sideburn things.

This may just be a male thing, but for a film about lesbians, there sure was a lack of lesbian action. I wasn’t expecting porn levels of action, mind you, but they barely seemed to touch each other, and when something did get going, some guy came in and ruined everything. Granted, this is part of the plot and all, but they could have at least given us something.

The good…

For an overly dramatic romantic comedy, this film moves along at a fairly brisk pace and doesn’t stop to smell the roses on the way.

The cast is great, especially the female leads. Heather Juergensen gets special kudos for being able to pull off the bicurious Helen, who actually appears to be a bit of a slut, as you can tell from her introduction.

The few comedic scenes are a nice touch. They don’t feel forced on the audience or just random bits of  levity for the sake of attempting to be “hip” or “cool”.

Kissing Jessica Stein is a pretty good film, though not my usual faire. For those of you looking for a good love story and a non-cheesy romantic comedy (yes, they do exist!), then this is the flick for you. I highly recommend it, so, while it isn’t perfect, I suggest you give it a shot!

4 out of 5 stars

But I’m a Cheerleader

PLOT:

Seventeen-year-old Megan (Lyonne) is a sunny high school senior who loves cheerleading and is going steady with football player boyfriend Jared. She does not enjoy kissing Jared, however, and prefers looking at her fellow cheerleaders. Combined with Megan’s interest in vegetarianism and Melissa Etheridge, her family and friends suspect that Megan is in fact a lesbian. With the help of ex-gay Mike (RuPaul), they surprise her with an intervention. Following this confrontation, Megan is sent to True Directions, a reparative therapy camp which uses a five-step program (similar to Alcoholics Anonymous’ Twelve-step program) to convert its campers to heterosexuality.

At True Directions, Megan meets the founder, strict disciplinarian Mary Brown (Moriarty), Mary’s son Rock, and a group of young people trying to “cure” themselves of their homosexuality. With the prompting of Mary and the other campers, Megan reluctantly agrees that she is a lesbian. This fact, at odds with her traditional, religious upbringing, distresses her and she puts every effort into becoming heterosexual. Early on in her stay at True Directions, Megan discovers two of the boys, Dolph and Clayton, making out. She panics and screams, leading to their discovery by Mike. Dolph is made to leave and Clayton is punished by being forced into isolation.

The True Directions program involves the campers admitting their homosexuality, rediscovering their gender identity by performing stereotypically gender-associated tasks, finding the root of their homosexuality, demystifying the opposite sex, and simulating heterosexual intercourse. Over the course of the program, Megan becomes friends with another girl at the camp, a college student named Graham (DuVall) who, though more comfortable being gay than Megan, was forced to the camp at the risk of otherwise being disowned by her family.

The True Directions kids are encouraged to rebel against Mary by two of her former students, ex-ex-gays Larry and Lloyd, who take the campers to a local gay bar where Graham and Megan’s relationship develops into a romance. When Mary discovers the outing, she makes them all picket Larry and Lloyd’s house, carrying placards and shouting homophobic abuse.

Megan and Graham sneak away one night to have sex and begin to fall in love. When Mary finds out, Megan, now at ease with her sexual identity, is unrepentant. She is made to leave True Directions and, now homeless, goes to stay with Larry and Lloyd. Graham, afraid to defy her father, remains at the camp. Megan and Dolph, who is also living with Larry and Lloyd, plan to win back Graham and Clayton.

Megan and Dolph infiltrate the True Directions graduation ceremony where Dolph easily coaxes Clayton away. Megan entreaties Graham to join them as well, but Graham nervously declines. Megan then performs a cheer for Graham and tells her that she loves her, finally winning Graham over. They drive off with Dolph and Clayton. The final scene of the film shows Megan’s parents (Stole and Cort) attending a PFLAG meeting to come to terms with their daughter’s homosexuality.

REVIEW:

If you’re  regular reader of this blog, then you’re probably confused as to why I watched this. Well, it wasn’t my choice. Having said that, this thing didn’t suck.

In this day and age when so many cannot seem to be acceptiong of homosexuality, a spoof on these attitudes is just what the doctor ordered.

Natasha Lyonne has to be one of the most underrated actresses ever. She takes her character, Megan, and gives her emotional depth and attempts to make her likable by the audience. As weak as the script is for this film, her acting is pretty good.

Cathy Moriarty portrays a strict headmistress. She really gets into her character, especially when it comes time to do some disciplinary stuff. Mary is one of those by-the-book conservative type authority figures that we all love to hate and Moriarty helps the process along.

RuPaul also stars in this independentt satirical comedy, but most won’t know it’s him, unless you know what he looks like outside of drag.

I think this film could have been better, but it lost me somewhere around the time we met Mary. From that point on, the entire film is set at the True Direction school that exists solely to degay these poor kids. I can’t help but wonder how many of these places really exist and how many parents have literally given up their kids because they suspected them of homosexuality. I can’t say you should go rush out and try and see this film. It isn’t that great, but it is worth a view once in a awhile.

3 out of 5 stars

American Pie 2

PLOT:

The story is about the four friends, and their attempts to have the greatest summer party ever at a summer beach house in Michigan first used by Kevin’s older brother four years ago. Kevin is lost without Vicky, and often accidentally makes advances on her even though they are no longer dating. Nadia is coming for the party, and Jim is desperate so he asks Michelle for help with his sexual problems. Stifler invites his younger brother to party, and Finch has yet another meeting with Stifler’s mom. Oz is going steady, and has a long distance relationship while his girlfriend who is in Spain, but once again Stifler interrupts the phone sex. The film keeps the same cult status as the first, and also holds true to the idea of piling on risqué scenes one after another. The movie also focuses more on Jim and Michelle, who, when Nadia arrives early, pretend to be in a relationship so she will not expect Jim to have sex (After the incident with “Pussy Palace”). They break the fake relationship off once Jim is ready to sleep with Nadia but Jim, having fallen in love with Michelle, proceeds to turn down Nadia and enter into a relationship with Michelle instead.

The end of the movie shows many of the friends sleeping with familiar (and some not-so familiar) people. Jim is with Michelle and Oz is with Heather, like in the first movie. Sherman gives up on getting anyone, but the rejected Nadia, who wanted Jim because he was a geek, is turned on by his “Sherminator” gimmick, and has sex with him. Stifler ends up with two women he at first thought were lesbians. Kevin doesn’t end up with anyone, but he does seem to succeed in getting over Vicky. As for Finch, he spends the night talking with a few girls, but he doesn’t sleep with any of them. Soon after, Stifler’s mother arrives, and the end of the movie shows her car on the side of the road, with Finch having sex with her.

REVIEW:

This is the best of the American Pie films. True, the first one set the precedent and a new standard for raunch in cinema today, this one took off with those ideas and made a absolutely hilarious film.

All the major characters return for another helping of pie, although when this was released Mena Suvari, Chris Klein, and Tara Reid were off to bigger and better things, and Sean William Scott was working his way up the food chain. I think for this film, though, having them all back, even if for  a few brief scenes really captures the feelings one has after the first year of college away from your friends.

Perhaps the best known part of this film is the lesbian “challenge” scene where Stifler, Jim, and Finch are caught in the house and the two girls decide to have some fun with them that include kissing, grabbing, and finally requesting a hand job. I’ll admit, it’s my favorite part.

Another popular scene is Jim’s (who else) mishap with superglue (rather than lubricant). The series of misadventures that follows that is hilarious, all the way up to the diatribe Jim’s dad gives the lady in the wheelchair in the waiting room.

There is a bit of a touching moment where Jim realizes he’s in love with Michele and leaves ultra hot Nadia in the lighthouse to profess his love. Those that are into that lovey-dovey stuff will really eat that up, so yeah, this is one of those films that has something for everyone, but proceed with caution. This film can be offensive to some, otherwise, watch and have fun!

5 out of 5 stars

Chasing Amy

A romantic comedy about a straight man, his best friend, and a the lesbian who falls in love with him and all the complication that arise from their relationship.

PLOT:

Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards are comic book artists and lifelong friends. Everything is going well for them until they meet Alyssa Jones at a comic book convention in New York to promote their comic Bluntman and Chronic. Holden is attracted to Alyssa, but soon learns that she is a lesbian. The two begin hanging out, and a deep friendship develops. Banky, however, dislikes Alyssa and is bothered by her and Holden’s relationship. Eventually, Holden is no longer able to contain his feelings, and confesses his love to Alyssa. She initially considers his confession unfair and inconsiderate since she is a lesbian, but that night the two begin a romantic relationship.

This new development deepens tension between Holden and Banky. Banky begins to dig up dirt on Alyssa’s past, and reports to Holden that Alyssa participated in a threesome in high school. Holden is deeply disturbed by this revelation, having believed that Alyssa had never been sexually involved with men. Holden angrily confronts Alyssa while attending a hockey game. During a tearful argument, she tells Holden about her “many” youthful sexual experimentations. Holden learns that she is not a lesbian in the strictest sense (lesbian-identified bisexual would better describe her sexual orientation). She apologizes for letting him believe that he was the only man she had been with; however, she refuses to apologize for her past, and Holden leaves feeling angry and confused.

Later, during a lunch with Jay and Silent Bob, Silent Bob reveals that he was once in a relationship similar to Holden’s. Despite the fact that he was in love with his girlfriend, Amy, his insecurities about her adventurous sexual past caused him to sabotage the relationship and leave her. Angry at himself for letting her go, he’s spent the rest of his life since then “chasing Amy.” Inspired by Silent Bob’s story, Holden devises a plan to fix both his relationship with Alyssa and his fractured friendship with Banky. He invites them both over, and claims that the three of them must have sex with each other. Though initially appalled, Banky agrees to participate, whereas Alyssa breaks up with him on the spot and leaves, stating that though she loves him, she will not be his whore. Relieved he will not have to get involved in a three-way, Banky also leaves.

One year later, both Banky and Alyssa are busy promoting their own respective comics at a comic book convention in New York. It is revealed that Holden has dissolved their partnership over Bluntman and Chronic, leaving the viewer with assumption that he sold the publishing and creative rights over to Banky (and this is corroborated in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back). He has a brief conversation with a tearful Alyssa, and gives her a copy of Chasing Amy, his new comic based on their relationship.

REVIEW:

This is often referred to as Kevin Smith’s best film and can be accredited with giving Ben Affleck his first lead role. As good as it is, it’s not my favorite from the View Askew universe.

The whole film had a whole “chick flick” vibe, even thought it was quite obvious it was written by a guy for guys. The only comedic parts seemed to be when Hooper X was ranting against the “white man” and then switched back to his homosexual persona.

There are good moments, as well. The speech that Silent Bob gives, apparently is his longest oration in all of the Kevin Smith movies. This is the movie that connects Mallrats and Clerks as man events and characters mentioned in those movies are also mentioned in this move, but in more of a chronological order.

In conclusion, I have to say, “What the hell is a nubian?”

4 out of 5 stars