Singles

Movie Name: Singles
Year of Release: 1992
Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Kyra Sedgwick, Campbell Scott, Bridget Fonda, Matt Dillon, Sheila Kelley, Jim True-Frost, Bill Pullman, James Le Gros, Ally Walker, Eric Stoltz, Jeremy Piven, Tom Skerritt, Peter Horton, Devon Raymond, Camilo Gallardo
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review

"Singles" is the sophomore directorial endeavor for writer/director Cameron Crowe, following his debut with "Say Anything" (though he made a name for himself earlier with the script for Amy Heckerling's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"). The narrative focuses on a series of friends/acquaintances in the Seattle area, all living in the same apartment complex in the early 1990s. We follow the romantic challenges facing Linda, who meets a foreign student, and falls deeply in love with him, only to realize he played a swindle on her and moved on to someone else. She meets Steve at a concert, and they slowly start to get acquainted with each other, and eventually fall in love, however navigating through unexpected events life throws at you turns out to be a challenge for them. Janet also lives in that apartment complex, and is smitten with Cliff Poncier, the lead vocalist for a grunge band named Citizen Dick. He continuously dismisses her while engaging in flirtation with other women, and doesn't want to have anything serious with Janet. Another woman in the complex that is also facing some dating challenges is Debbie Hunt, who has a roommate, but can't seem to find the right person, no matter how much she tries. 

Upon reading the premise of this film, one would be tempted to think this is a prequel to Darren Star's "Melrose Place". Alas, it is not. I personally had some difficulty reconciling the tone and character development of this film, with what Mr. Crowe went on to do with "Jerry Maguire" and particularly with "Almost Famous", which remains to this day his best feature. "Singles" isn't the precursor to the grunge scene that took over the world in the early 1990s, though the soundtrack is solid, nor is it the romantic staple that Nora Ephron illustrated with far more humor and warmth in "Sleepless in Seattle". What we're left with is a film that attempts to capture the life (emotional and professional) of a few twenty-something individuals, who are trying to navigate the dating scene, never demonstrating much about what makes these characters particularly appealing, or for that matter, different from each other. Linda, Janet, Debbie, aside from the cast who plays them, and the superficial professions they are assigned to, seem copycats of each other, which undermines both their authenticity, and the level of interest they're able to create. This film ultimately feels like a TV pilot that lacks personality to elevate it to something more memorable. What makes it watchable is solely the cast, with Kyra Sedgwick, Campbell Scott, and Matt Dillon getting away with the most interesting and distinctive performances, whereas Bridget Fonda, Sheila Kelley, and Bill Pullman are completely wasted in barely there characters. The production team is solid, including Tak Fujimoto and Ueli Steiger's cinematography, Paul Westerberg's score, and Stephen J. Lineweaver's production design. Though this film has become representative of the grunge scene of the 1990s, it fails to resonate as a romantic film or even a comedy for that matter (the comedy moments lie solely on Matt Dillon's shoulders). It's watchable and forgettable, something that can be said for some of the films from this writer/director.