6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The single life is no laughing matter for Jessica Stein, an attractive journalist working for a big-city newspaper. After a string of really bad dates. Jessica's search for "Mr. Right" seems pointless. But an intriguing personal ad catches her eye and ultimately leads her to find a quirky soul mate in Helen Cooper. With no previous experience to draw upon, the girls muddle along, making up the rules as they go!
Starring: Jennifer Westfeldt, Heather Juergensen, Tovah Feldshuh, Michael Ealy, Jon HammRomance | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Italian: DTS 5.1
English SDH, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
What a difference a few years have made. When Kissing Jessica Stein started screening theatrically in 2001 (with a wide release in 2002), there was at least a murmur of shock from certain quarters that the film was a romantic comedy built around the halting relationship between two women, with supporting characters who exhibited the entire spectrum of human sexuality from gay to straight to somewhere in between. One suspects that if Kissing Jessica Stein were to debut today, it would cause barely a ripple in the cultural zeitgeist continuum, and would instead be judged solely on the merits of its writing and performances rather than certain aspects of its subject matter. Seeing the film now in the cold, clear light of the recent glut of states striking down laws banning gay marriage and a general loosening of strictures against those with so-called “alternative” lifestyles, Kissing Jessica Stein comes off as an enjoyable but decidedly lightweight attempt to prove that whatever gender lips one might be kissing, there are certain universal trials that attend any attempt at developing intimacy. It’s a pat thesis, of course, and one which has been explored endlessly in more “traditional” rom-coms through the years, and perhaps for that reason Kissing Jessica Stein can never quite rise to the upper echelons of the general rom-com genre. In its own peculiar subgenre, it perhaps manages to do a bit better, buoyed by ebullient (if more than slightly neurotic) performances and a nicely ambivalent tone that seems to suggest if boy meets girl or girl meets girl doesn’t quite work out, there are other choices that are worthy of being explored.
Kissing Jessica Stein is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a frankly pretty lackluster looking transfer that perhaps suggests that this is yet another older master that Fox has had lying around for some time and is only now deigning to release on Blu-ray. The overall appearance here is often quite soft looking, with kind of middling contrast that adds a layer of murkiness to many of the interior shots. Blacks are often just slightly on the milky side as well. Colors on the other hand appear natural, if not overly vivid, and in fact the entire appearance here is surprisingly drab a lot of the time. On the plus side of the equation, there are no major artifacts to contend with and along with what appears to be no restorative efforts, there likewise appears to have been no overt digital tweaking to the image. The result is a middle of the road looking release that's arguably a nice step up from standard definition, but hardly revelatory in any meaningful way.
While Kissing Jessica Stein's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 offers very good fidelity, there's simply not much opportunity for any convincing immersion here, other than ambient environmental sounds and scenes that offer groups of people congregating together. The bulk of this film plays out in intimate scenes between two people, and here the track stays resolutely anchored in the front channels. Everything is very cleanly presented on the track and while there's no really amazing surround activity here, there are also no issues of any kind to report.
Kissing Jessica Stein is sweet natured if not especially ribald (especially considering the slew of more in your face gay themed comedies that have come down the pike over the past several years). While some of the writing here tends to gloss over issues that gay people have traditionally had to encounter, the performances are quite winning and the film maintains a breezy enough air to overcome some of its inherent shortcomings. While there's a certain "sitcom" feeling to a lot of Kissing Jessica Stein, what ultimately may keep contemporary audiences from enjoying the film as anything other than a slight diversion is the fact that culturally we seem to be in an entirely new era where the film's central thesis of someone "experimenting" with lesbianism seems almost old hat. Even fans of the film may be a bit disappointed with the video quality here, which is okay but hardly stellar. While Kissing Jessica Stein may work best as an historical artifact of sorts, it still offers some good laughs along the way, and with the above mentioned caveats kept in mind, comes Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2014
2011
Extended Cut
2008
2009
2015
2014
2014
1994
2012
2008
2000
2005
35th Anniversary
1989
2012
1988
2010
30th Anniversary Edition
1989
1988
2008
1987