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Desperately Seeking Susan is a clever and extremely well-written comic confection revolving around a bored New Jersey housewife named Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) who religiously follows the postings of a girl named Susan in the personal ads of her local newspaper because she apparently finds some kind of vicarious release in reading about Susan's wild lifestyle. One day she reads in the paper that Susan is meeting her boyfriend Jimmy in the city and decides to go to the city to actually see what Susan looks like and possibly meet her. Just as Susan arrives on the scene (unbeknownst to her or Roberta, she is being tailed by a killer), Roberta hits her head, wakes up and thinks she's Susan and that's where the fun really begins.
To try and explain further would be confusing and totally ruin this delicious romantic comedy for those who have never seen it. Susan Seidelman's direction is crisp and detail-oriented and the screenplay by Leora Barish is absolutely brilliant and the real star of the film...the unpredictable twists and turns this story takes are too numerous to count, but be warned that this is one of those rare gems of a movie where if you walk away for five minutes without pausing it, you won't have a clue as to what's going on.
Arquette gives a star-making performance as Roberta and she is well supported by Madonna, in her first major film role, as Susan, a character who is pretty much just a fictionalized version of Madonna herself so the character doesn't really come off as much of a stretch for her. I absolutely love the scene where Susan is in a club dancing to Madonna's smash "Into the Groove"...it feels almost like the 4th wall is broken but it really isn't. Kudos as well to Aidan Quinn as Susan's confused ex, Mark Blum as Roberta's slimy husband, and Robert Joy as Jimmy. And if you blink, you'll miss a brief appearance from ROSEANNE's Laurie Metcalf as Roberta's sister-in-law.
This is a comedy/mystery/romance that, due to a beautifully constructed screenplay, on-target performances and a rocking soundtrack, makes all the right moves to an extremely satisfying conclusion. 8.5/10
Desperately Seeking Susan is a clever and extremely well-written comic confection revolving around a bored New Jersey housewife named Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) who religiously follows the postings of a girl named Susan in the personal ads of her local newspaper because she apparently finds some kind of vicarious release in reading about Susan's wild lifestyle. One day she reads in the paper that Susan is meeting her boyfriend Jimmy in the city and decides to go to the city to actually see what Susan looks like and possibly meet her. Just as Susan arrives on the scene (unbeknownst to her or Roberta, she is being tailed by a killer), Roberta hits her head, wakes up and thinks she's Susan and that's where the fun really begins.
To try and explain further would be confusing and totally ruin this delicious romantic comedy for those who have never seen it. Susan Seidelman's direction is crisp and detail-oriented and the screenplay by Leora Barish is absolutely brilliant and the real star of the film...the unpredictable twists and turns this story takes are too numerous to count, but be warned that this is one of those rare gems of a movie where if you walk away for five minutes without pausing it, you won't have a clue as to what's going on.
Arquette gives a star-making performance as Roberta and she is well supported by Madonna, in her first major film role, as Susan, a character who is pretty much just a fictionalized version of Madonna herself so the character doesn't really come off as much of a stretch for her. I absolutely love the scene where Susan is in a club dancing to Madonna's smash "Into the Groove"...it feels almost like the 4th wall is broken but it really isn't. Kudos as well to Aidan Quinn as Susan's confused ex, Mark Blum as Roberta's slimy husband, and Robert Joy as Jimmy. And if you blink, you'll miss a brief appearance from ROSEANNE's Laurie Metcalf as Roberta's sister-in-law.
This is a comedy/mystery/romance that, due to a beautifully constructed screenplay, on-target performances and a rocking soundtrack, makes all the right moves to an extremely satisfying conclusion. 8.5/10