Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: Mousy (but ambitious) assistant editor finds a fantastic photographer living upstairs. In wrangling the photographer into coming out of retirement for her magazine, the editor finds herself falling in love.
Biased, pithy comments: I openly admit my rating for this movie is unfairly low. What's good about this movie? Lots---the realistic dialog, the frank look at drug culture, the even portrayal of lesbian love (neither exploitative nor comic), and the grumbling Jewish mother all feel real and are filmed sensually. What left me totally cold and dragged this rating down? My utter dislike for watching movies about drugs combined with my mild dislike for watching movies about people screwing up their relationships with their friends and lovers because they're such lousy communicators. It's not that I'm repulsed by drugs; I just find them ultimately uninteresting. Likewise with people who can't communicate. So, your mileage will *probably* vary on this one, but I sure didn't think that much of it, despite the totally lurid fascination with watching one of my middle-school crushes (Ally Sheedy) kissing girls.
Other Notes: You know, when you make a movie about heroin addicts, you're not going to have a whole lot of pulse-pounding action. Except, I guess, ``Trainspotting,'' which this movie isn't.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Ally Sheedy, Radha Mitchell, Patricia Clakson, Tammy Grimes.
Directed by: Lisa Cholodenko