Kissing Jessica Stein
dir. Herman-Wurmfeld
Sat Feb 23
Whitsell Auditorium
There’s something cliché about a lesbian movie in which two totally hot chicks decide whether they’re gay or not by having sex. I say that because it sounds like the premise to a lesbian porn, and all lesbian porn is cliché.
But you know what? Even though I went into Kissing Jessica Stein sighing loudly and slouching in my chair, I was wrong. It’s actually good. Instead of patronizing the audience with an overarching story of discovering sexual identity, it focuses on the individual realizations of two women who stumble into lesbianism.
They represent rather stereotypical casual lesbians, yet still manage to be real characters. Helen is a hetero sex fiend with multiple partners, who decides to put a women-seeking-women ad in the paper because it’s something she hasn’t tried yet. Jessica, also hetero (until now), is taken by the ad because it features a smarty-pants quote from the book she was reading the night before–and she’s sick of men.
The two sheepishly meet up over drinks and realize they both love shopping and lipstick, and mutually enjoy one of women’s favorite pastimes–talking about how retarded men are. Jessica, loving Helen’s personality completely, is slowly convinced into some hot lesbian sex. Helen, on the other hand, is always fired up. And so goes their relationship; Jessica is tentative, Helen is aggressive. Jessica is in the closet and Helen is out.
This conflict is interesting because of the superb peripheral characters–Jessica’s ex-boyfriend/boss, her loud, gossipy co-worker, her controlling-yet-loving mother, and Helen’s best friends–a flamboyant gay couple who gets all pissed off about Helen’s spontaneous team switching (addressing the nurture vs. nature argument).
The last half-hour of the film is a little bit of a rush job, falling into the typical Hollywood trap of sending everyone on their merry way despite serious plot turns–but it is a romantic comedy. Nonetheless, the film manages to be witty and poignant, while providing the added entertainment of two hot chicks rolling around together.