BAR GIRLS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 5.1
U.S. Availability: limited release 4/95 Running Length: 1:35 MPAA Classification: R (Sex, profanity, nudity)
Starring: Nancy Allison Wolfe, Liza D'Agostino, Camila Griggs, Paula Sorge, Justine Slater, Lisa Parker, Michael Harris Director: Marita Giovanni Producers: Lauran Hoffman and Marita Giovanni Screenplay: Lauran Hoffman (based on her play) Cinematography: Michael Ferris Music: The Ringling Sisters Released by Orion Classics
Writer/producer Lauran Hoffman stated that the impetus behind BAR GIRLS was a desire to make a film showing the lives of real lesbians, and to expunge a certain Hollywood-generated image involving an ice pick. It's therefore somewhat ironic that in attempting to create this honest, true-to-life portrait, BAR GIRLS has resorted to all sorts of traditional formulas and stereotypes. The film takes an assortment of caricatures and throws them together into a comic, melodramatic mix that only occasionally works.
Hoffman and her co-producer/director, Marita Giovanni, deserve credit for the sincerity of their approach. There's not a note of condescension in this film. It takes homosexuality seriously without turning sexual preference into a soul-searching routine. When one of the bar girls decides to put aside her affinity for men and try a relationship with another woman, it just happens. There are no sudden sexual identity crises or moments of self-doubt. One of the main themes of BAR GIRLS is that people are people, no matter which sex they choose to be with.
The problem is that the message is superior to the medium of its delivery. Even the gender twist can't invigorate this overused storyline. When one character utters the line "Can this get any more predictable?", she could be talking about Hoffman's script. At least a fair amount of the dialogue is interesting--the characters may be living the cliches, but they're not talking them.
The main characters are Loretta and Rachel, a pair of upbeat lesbians played with energy and charisma by Nancy Allison Wolfe and Liza D'Agostino. The two women meet one night at an all-girl bar, have a drink together, then head to Loretta's place. They don't have sex, however. Both are currently involved with other people, and Loretta needs to love her partner before getting physical. Following a meaningful conversation, the pair decides that they enjoy spending time together, and plan to continue meeting. Eventually, they sever the other relationships, admit their feelings for one another, and move in together. It's then that things between them start to get rocky.
While the core of BAR GIRLS is a reasonably solid, if unspectacular, romantic comedy, the satellite subplots are awful. The business about a straight girl (Justine Slater) getting involved with a dyke (Paula Sorge) is poorly-conceived, badly executed, and horribly acted. Fragments from the lives of some of the other bar girls are no more impressive. One character in particular, a woman named J.R. (Camila Griggs), has the potential to be a fascinating and complex personality. Unfortunately, she ends up as just another obstacle to Loretta and Rachel's happiness.
As far as American-produced lesbian films are concerned, BAR GIRLS falls somewhere in between the inept-but-well-intentioned CLAIRE OF THE MOON and the playfully entertaining GO FISH. Fresh romantic comedies are difficult to come up with regardless of the protagonists' sexual preferences, so BAR GIRLS resorts to safe, tired formulas. The target audience will probably enjoy the result, but, for everyone else, it's hardly worth the effort of going to a theater.
- James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
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