SINGLE WHITE FEMALE
A film review by Too FAT Guys
Copyright 1992 by Roger & Me
Roger: So, another Evil Lesbian movie, Roger?
Roger: I don't think so. There wasn't a swarm of gay-rights activists
bandying about unlabeled spoilers.
Roger: None that I noticed.
Roger: SINGLE WHITE FEMALE stars Bridget Fonda as Allison Jones, a
free-lance programmer. When her fiance, Sam Rawson (Steven
Weber) is caught with his drawers down, Allison throws him out
and searches for a new roommate. When Hedra Carlson (Jennifer
Jason Leigh) shows up, Allie knows that she has found her
woman. They quickly become best friends, but things begin to
go bad when Allie forgives Sam's wandering penis and they get
back together. Hedy's jealousy over losing Allie to Sam is
enough to provoke a psychotic episode.
Roger: As I mentioned earlier, Allie and Hedy's relationship seems initially to have strong lesbian overtones. Fortunately, this is no BASIC INSTINCT. The director, Barbet Schroeder, seems to explicitly push the apparently lesbian theme. However, we find out fairly quickly that Hedy is a surviving twin and is using Allie as a surrogate sister.
Roger: Hedy is however a leading proponent of the "men are scum"
school of thought. And for the most part, this movie shows her
to be correct. All of the hetero men in this film are, in
fact, relatively scummy. Certainly, Sam's testicular
co-processors are alleviating a lot of his CPU's workload.
Allie's employer, Mitch (Stephen Tobolowsky), is a lecherous,
condescending, chauvinistic pig. In fact, the only redeeming
ornament of manhood is Graham Knox (Peter Friedman), the Nice
Gay Man. The NGM is on his way to becoming an accepted
Hollywood cliche -- as long as he can non-threateningly support
the female lead.
Roger: Of course, you're leaving out the really scummy men -- the ones
responsible for all of the gratuitous nudity in this film. In
one scene, Allie walks in on Hedy masturbating. Far be it from
me to discourage masturbation, but the point of filming it was
completely lost on me. Unless the point was simple
titillation.
Roger: Worked for me, but maybe I'm just a scummy man. The rest of
the movie worked quite well also. Except for one unexplained
intuitive leap on Allie's part, the story held together
nicely. I can't say that it ever held me in suspense, but I
did enjoy watching the plot unfold.
Roger: Tho suspense is not this films strong point, there were a few
moments of suspense and some frightening violence. Leigh's Hedy
is very convincing, obviously disturbed, and seems a little
dangerous. Fonda also is believable as a weak, dependent
woman. I think her character was supposed to have grown under
pressure, but this seems to be somewhat lost. In all, I didn't
find the overt sexuality offensive enough to spoil the well
thought-out and acted plot. I give this film a thumbs up.
Roger: The story worked well and stood up to examination afterwards. I
enjoyed this film also and give it a thumbs up.
Roger: So, that's two thumbs up, a first here, for SINGLE WHITE FEMALE. That's all for now -- the tty is closed. -- For the latest review by the Too FAT Guys, finger roger@icpsr.umich.edu.
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