Film Reviews

Kissing Jessica Stein

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Jessica Stein is a neurotic New Yorker who doesn't seem to be having much luck in either her love life or career. Unable to find a suitable partner, she barely negotiates the city's singles scene, while she's hardly challenged by her mundane office job in a publishing company. All of that changes, however, when she reads an ad placed in the personals by the oversexed gallery worker and girl-about-town, Helen Cooper (Heather Juergensen). And though Jessica has never considered lesbianism as an option before, she finds herself extremely attracted to the loud mouthed Cooper, despite her own neurosis. It's virtually impossible not to watch Kissing Jessica Stein and not be reminded of the output of one Mr Woody Allen. Indeed, the writers of the movie, Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen, seem to have studied the Woodmeister's entire back catalogue, taken those influences and placed them wholesale into their own film. All of which is not to say that Kissing Jessica Stein is a bad film - far from it. On the whole, the script is rather witty with some moments of comic ingenuity, the performances are rather good and Herman-Wurmfeld's direction is nicely paced. It won't win any awards for originality, though.

Review by Garreth Murphy