Desertman84
Singles stars Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick, and Matt Dillon.The movie centers on the lives of a group of young people who are in their 20's and they are living in Seattle,Washington.These people includes Janet,a coffee-bar waitress fawning over Cliff,an aspiring,yet slightly aloof rock musician of a fictional grunge/rock band Citizen Dick;Linda Powell and Steve Dunne, respectively - a couple wavering on whether to commit to each other, and Debbie Hunt, who is trying to find Mr. Right - a man who would make an ideal romantic partner - by making a video to express her desire. The events of the film are set against the backdrop of the early 1990's grunge movement in Seattle.The film also has a number of cameos, including actors Eric Stoltz, Tom Skerritt, Peter Horton, director Tim Burton and the film's author/director, Cameron Crowe. From the musical side of the fence, Singles features appearances by Sub Pop executive Bruce Pavitt, musicians Chris Cornell, Pat DiNizio, Tad, and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, and Stone Gossard, who play Dillon's backing band, Citizen Dick.Singles is a funny and engaging film.No question that Cameron Crowe had a great screenplay and the direction of the movie was simply great.The soundtrack was also amazing.This is definitely one of the good films ever released in the 90's for it is very smart and witness real people relate to each other about real feelings and using real words.
dena-623-962265
Really Cameron Crowe wanted to do a typical rom-com, but he also wanted to ride on the coattails of the "Seattle grunge movement." He combined both and the finished product was "Singles." This isn't pulled off smoothly. I have been in an interesting mood lately, trying to view things that I remember getting bludgeoned over the head with through advertising until I finally gave in as a middle schooler/teenager. "Singles" is my latest project. The idea is to see if there was any real substance to these old films or if it's just cultural fluff and a sign of the times. "Singles"=cultural fluff.I won't deny that there is a special thrill in the first scene with Alice in Chains. And it is fun spotting Pearl Jam and Chris Cornell as youngsters. That thrill subsides pretty quickly when you find that you've entrapped yourself in a formulaic love story that tries to package itself as something modern.Opportunities for a serious edge were squandered. Bridget Fonda's character makes some interesting and independent choices, yet the script couldn't resist putting her back where she she started. A serious plot twist that developed between Campbell Scott and Kyra Sedgwick was quickly and conveniently done away with, after only a few moments of screen time. The movie spends a few moments here and there at local concerts with the likes of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, and pans over the writhing "mosh pits" in an effort to remind this that this is the new 90's style of being young. Does not work with this story. As attractive as Kyra Sedgwick is (and a decent actress) I would not have chosen her for the lead female role. Her personality and appearance to not fit the style of the movie, and she looks woefully out of place at an Alice in Chains concert, like she wandered out of an elementary school library to see what was going on. Is it worth a watch? Yes it is. There are some genuinely funny moments that I had missed as a kid, involving cameos by Jeremy Piven and Eric Stolz. Bridget Fonda is just adorable and her style holds up pretty well after 2 decades. However, from what I hear, we have "Singles" to thank for the parade of youth watching over the next 10-15 years, from "Reality Bites" to "Friends," bringing us more and more white post college young adults exchanging remarks and looking stylish. And let's not forget the coffee shop. The question that begs is... Were Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden truly looking for a break through the big screen? I won't deny that this really helped a-list all those guys. Nirvana backed out. Is Chris Cornell ashamed? hmmm...
RainDogJr
I always considered Cameron Crowe's SINGLES as something I really had to see. My one and only connection to it: the grunge. As a huge grunge fan (especially of Pearl Jam) I've had since years ago a sort of pending meeting with Crowe's second feature. Today I finally sat down I watched it on DVD. I have to say, if you want something more related to music, something like, I'm pretty much guessing as I have seen only parts of it (the "Tiny Dancer" part for sure), Crowe's ALMOST FAMOUS, or something that really puts you in the "grunge scene", you'll disappointed. To be fair, it made think in that music-related talk with Quentin Tarantino from the Collector's Edition of the PULP FICTION Soundtrack. And that is because Tarantino says this: "what I don't wanna do is, and I've see it happen in a lot of movies, where they just turn up the soundtrack to create a false energy, or in particularly to create a sense of period. They're not investing in the picture. OK, it's the sixties, we play a lot of sixties songs and that will create the period. To me that's cheap, like listening to the radio and watching a movie at the same time. They don't really go together". In this case, I wouldn't go as far as to call the use of some Pearl Jam songs, and the scenes of Alice In Chains and Soundgarden playing at some bar, cheap, but they definitely don't create something special, something that, like I said, really put us in early 90s Seattle. For instance, it's only people dancing in a club to a Pearl Jam song (always great to hear Pearl Jam though). And yes, maybe that's just early 90s Seattle, and yes I'm caring too much about the setting of the story but to be more fair, I wouldn't have seen a "romantic comedy" by Cameron Crowe if not for the grunge thing. I mean, something like Crowe's SAY ANYTHING… is not the kind of movie I'm always looking forward to check out. So, the level of disappointment that SINGLES gives to you may certainly vary. I mean, you can enter here not knowing anything about the grunge setting, or you can enter here seeking for a movie about early 90s Seattle musicians (maybe thanks to the image of Matt Dillon with the "grunge look" and his guitar). In my case, and like I said, it did disappointed me in the setting thing but in the end I really can't say this is something anybody should runaway from, that anybody should avoid at all costs. It's a pretty darn normal "relationships movie", simply as that. It almost never feels false in that regard, which is certainly the best thing. My main point here is that pretty much this whole story doesn't go hand-to-hand with the period it is setting in. Sure, Matt Dillon's character Cliff has a grunge band (you just gotta like a whole lot this character! "Now, a song like "Touch Me, I'm Dick" is about... what?"; Cliff: "Well, I think "Touch Me, I'm Dick," in essence speaks for itself. I think that, you know, that's basically what the song is, um... about... is about, you know... I think a lot of people might think it's actually about, you know, "My name is Dick, and, you know, you can touch me," but, I think, you know, it can be seen either way") and the other main characters (played by Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick, Bridget Fonda, Sheila Kelley and Jim True-Frost –nice to see "Prez" from "The Wire"–; the acting is fine) go out to bars to listen to Alice in Chains (there's a scene with main character Steve, and Sedgwick's character Linda, and his record collection, Hendrix, the Clash, you know), to dance to "State of Love and Trust", but are they really Generation X characters? Well, the main couple in the movie, Steve and Linda, ain't. Like I said, it is an ordinary relationships movie, that is entertaining and that probably you can enjoy more than me. If I will remember SINGLES for something is definitely for its great cameos: Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament (is just fun with these guys! They play the band mates of Cliff's band. Eddie is the drummer of the band, by the way), Chris Cornell (totally great, hilarious! Sort of reminded me Jay and Silent Bob from CLERKS an other Kevin Smith movies I have yet to see) and Tim Burton (as a video maker who "is only like the next Martin Scorsese"!). So, memorable details in an entertaining if totally ordinary love story… that would be my summary of SINGLES. Oh, and the soundtrack is certainly great, but some of the background music during the film is not (think of the opening theme of "Friends" and you'll get the idea. When I thought this I didn't know that this movie became sort of the basis for "Friends", if wikipedia doesn't lie: "Warner Bros Television tried immediately to turn Singles into a television series. When Crowe balked at the notion, the company proceeded with the idea, engaged a new writing and directing team, changing elements and the name to Friends").
xandervaliya
These are the same humorous stories of neurotic, wounded, gullible, vain, and humiliated people we see and hear fourteen(!) years after this movie came out, but this is an original that's still witty and fresh. Cameron Crowe's thoughtful exploration of single life has universal appeal.Having said that, this movie is also an unabashed love letter to Seattle as well as a portrait in miniature of one the city's heydays: the height of grunge-rock scene.The previously overlooked Seattle suddenly outshone NYC, LA, and SF (if only for a few years) as the coolest city in America, thanks to the mass appeal of local bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains (who have a performance in the film) and Pearl Jam (who are acting in this film).The city itself becomes a character in the film and even it's famously damp weather couldn't keep it from being seen, through Cameron's eyes, as a terribly romantic and lively place to live in.(Luckily for Seattle it's still seen as a sophisticated metropolis, long after grunge, "Singles", "Frasier", Starbucks, and the novelty surrounding them all faded away.)There's no need for future generations to do any retrospective films about early nineties Seattle; "Singles" is all we need.
