I loved this movie! One of my favorites. Great chemestry between the leading ladies. The mother character was awesome. Delicious script.

“Are you twelve?” Was the adorable response to Helen’s cooing to Jessica after expressing a tirade of frustration with -Jessica. I love this film for its dialogue, acting chops, chemistry between leads, and overall production values, including the soundtrack. I’m glad for your revisit to this charming little film. I too was very disappointed at the ending but have come to appreciate that Jessica and Helen remained close friends. Josh is douchey but much as a result of his hurt re: failed relationship with Jessica. This film speaks to the lesbian-falling-for-straight girl trope pretty well and because both women are not teenagers, they’re much more introspective of the emotional response created by their pairing. All said, at the time, it was a lovely little oasis in a desert of paucity of lesbian films.

@100percentshipper

3 ай бұрын

Nicely said!

Words cannot explain how much I HATE this film. Words cannot describe the anger, the sadness, and the rage I felt when I first saw it. As a young gay just coming to terms with my feelings, I didn't have many films telling my story. Having grown up and being forced to go to Catholic School and having the religious hetero-normative life thrown upon me. Words didn't describe how fearful I felt when I realized I was into women. I didn't know what my mom would think, I didn't know what my dad would think. When I tried to come out to friends, some understood and accepted me, others essentially told me that until I'd "had a guy" that I'd never REALLY know "for sure". Then when I tried to come out to my mom, she "accepted" it but only under the guise of her understanding that EVENTUALLY and INEVITABLY I'd get a guy and put all this "girl stuff" behind me. I was very vulnerable and down during that time and didn't feel understood, but I was constantly pressured by this apparently 'inevitability' that 'maybe' my queerness was just 'a phase'. Not because I really felt that way, but because I was being treated that way. Then along came this movie, I watched it and for the first time, I felt like it was a movie that was describing the journey of a girl who was 'supposed' to be straight, and had all the societal pressures of it thrust upon her, but then finding love in a girl and in a RomCom way started being accepted, and understood. I watched the scene where her mother accepted her girlfriend and saw them moving in together and had never felt happier to see this story unfolding. AND THEN.. the ending.. where she gets with this prick a-hole of a guy who appears into the story JUST to be the guy that Jessica leaves her girlfriend for. And I was crushed... I was crushed, I was heartbroken. Everything that people had been beating down on my head while I'd been trying to accept myself THIS movie just told me meant nothing. It just told me that no matter how healthy the relationship is with a girl, no matter how good we are together, no matter how much I loved another girl, it will just 'pale in comparison' to 'wanting a guy' no matter how much of an a-hole they are and treated my young gayness as basically a 'phase' and as if I was treating any girl I was into as a 'test run' prepping me for the 'real' relationship with a guy.... because that is what 'growing up' was going to be.. Words cannot express how much this movie damaged me and broke me. I felt alone, more alone than I'd felt even prior to coming out. I couldn't count on my family, I could only count on maybe one of my friends to understand me..maybe. And now this movie which had built up such hope within me, sent it crashing down with the "heronormativity is inevitable!' message. All it did was make me want to shove those feelings back into my body, ignore them, and just act like my mom was right... Even though I knew it in my heart that I was who I was, movies like that just made me want to hide again. There isn't a single film or piece of media around that time of my life that was more potentially damaging to my journey than this film, because of where I was at emotionally and in terms of vulnerability. It was supposed to be my refuge, but it tossed me back out with a message of 'date any girls you want...the guys will be waiting when you're ready to come back.'. I wasn't happy for a long time, and felt like I was just sinking further and further down into this sadness, this anger, this hopelessness and I didn't know what to do anymore. And it wasn't till I came across movies like But I'm a Cheerleader, and Bound and Better than Chocolate that I FINALLY found some kind of happiness in a story told, that I didn't have to be fearful of being crushed by the ending... those movies gave me hope and opened up my heart and allowed me to start not feeling afraid to show pride in who I was or at least more confidence in it, to exist outside of that closet unapologetically. But movies like Kissing Jessica Stein just wanted to shove me back in. I will never hate a "queer" movie more than Kissing Jessica Stein because of ALL of those reasons. Blue is the Warmest Color is a close second, not just because of it's ending falling to more of those harmful tropes, but because of all the behind the scenes stuff that was going on and how the Director decided to frame each and every intimate scene and treat the actresses. So I say... from the bottom of my little sapphic heart... F Kissing Jessica Stein, and the horse it rode in on. If there was ever a movie that needed to be "remade" and the ending changed, it's that one. Till then, I'll enjoy Better than Chocolate, But I'm a Cheerleader and Bound whenever I can ^_^

I watched it. You were right, that ending is a hate crime 😂

I liked it thought it was nuanced. The other chick was still gay. I'm not sure jessica ever was. I thought it was a good story about someone stepping outside themselves

@johnscott488

2 ай бұрын

She wasn't gay. She just went through this phase of female bonding.

Well articulated. I watched this movie YEARS ago, and because of the ending, it wasn't one I've gone back to. Not sure what I would think about it if I watched it again after all this time. They're the same, but I'm not. Obviously it worked for you. Good review!

@100percentshipper

3 ай бұрын

Thanks!

I used to watch this film all the time when i was a kid even though some parts have aged badly it's still a film worth watching

Am I the only one who loved this movie 24 years ago, despite the ending? If they had ended up together, it wouldn't have made sense to me. BTW: favorite part: the "Oh, come on!" from Helen when the doorbell rings. It was so hilarious I still remember that scene 24 years later (I haven't watched the movie since).

Thanks for the review ... and for saving my time. I've been meaning to finally check it out for a while now, but ... no happy ending...nothing for me.

@FromNaboo

3 ай бұрын

Try to watch it. It's a great story. Very well done. Loved the script. Both leading ladies are the producers and writers. It was a good ending, in my opinion.

Love this channel, don’t care for the movie. The movie is just a reminder that it’s still not easy being queer and finding good entertainment.

@100percentshipper

3 ай бұрын

I totally get people not liking the film for the ending, I don't like the ending either even now which is a shame because it is well made in other ways!

@bipbop3121

3 ай бұрын

don't be so bleak. I mean things have progressed to films where a movie with leading lesbians, who HEA (Happily Ever After) is being called garbage and reacted to like it's Blue is the Warmest Color or Benendetta levels of sexploitation, and how dare a bi woman married to a man right a lesbian movie with him. If lesbians can be that picky in this day and age, then they must really be satisfied with some good entertainment. Although, personally, I don't feel like there's enough quantity to treat a mediocre HEA comedy, like the worst trash, instead of just the dumb comedy. That said, I'm tired of everyone wearing dumb, like a badge of pride, I wish more movies could be light, fun and intelligent. Even with the "thinking" films, they're masquerading (and often depressing), rather than actually intelligent. That's sadly just true of film in general, not specifically lesbian featuring films.

@Sierrahtl

3 ай бұрын

@@bipbop3121 maybe it’s the mood I’m in right now but dumb movies that are queer are no reason to cheer for them. Since I know I can watch non HEA flics, try this idea on for size: A lesbian cast/take on Dangerous Liaisons? Surely with all the stuff I’ve read on Readit and elsewhere, a clever, witty, devastating script could be constructed.

THANK YOU for telling us the Ending KILL ' s the whole film BEFORE the spoiler Warning ;

What is the name of this movie😢

Its just another bad "lesbian" movie...not worth it

@judesaila9414

3 ай бұрын

Ugh I hated this movie

@michellechristman6220

3 ай бұрын

@@judesaila9414 me too!!

@michellechristman6220

3 ай бұрын

@@judesaila9414 me too! A lot of them are bad movies!

@judesaila9414

3 ай бұрын

@@michellechristman6220 yes they are! I feel lesbians grasp onto anything remotely lezbionic bc there is so little content, and those of us demanding more bc there’s even less content that’s actually good. Now it also seems like most of the newer stuff involves girls (pre-teen or teen) - rather than any women over the age of 30. And the good newer stuff (a league of their own, gentleman Jack, etc) is cancelled after like a minute.

@michellechristman6220

3 ай бұрын

@@judesaila9414 I hear you there!! I refuse to watch any "lesbian" movies that have a bad ending or are just bad movies in general...(Unfortunately, there's a lot of them) I've wasted so much time on some that it only made me mad...I absolutely loved Gentleman Jack!! It was so good...I think they would have ruined a league of their own if it kept going, like going back to her man 🤢 it definitely is only teens or pre-teens... that's annoying too...or old with young...ugh

agree

I think this may have been an okay film if released now that gay characters and storylines are becoming more mainstream, but in the day and age when there was nary a sapphic film that wasn't a cautionary tale or trauma p0rn or labyrinth of subtext, I hated it. I felt baited. I'm sure there's a story about self-discovery and being open to new possibilities, but for me it was also a story of a woman letting a man get to her to a point where she pulls another human being into her crazy just to prove him wrong, when a therapist would have sufficed.

This was a great movie ,but why couln't the writers just let Jessica live happily ever after wth her girlfriend, instead of killing us with that HEART CRUSHING ending! The haunting of Bly Manor series with Victoria Pedretti shattered my heart into tiny little pieces with that ending! I cried like a baby for days how they ruined such an awesome series. Why can't these writers let ALL lesbians be together & live happily ever after!

@100percentshipper

3 ай бұрын

I agree on Bly Manor. People seemed pretty chill about the ending, I guess because they felt like the ladies got some kind of happy ending at least or a while, but I didn't appreciate it at all! Thankfully there are many more happy endings now than before.

@bipbop3121

3 ай бұрын

@@100percentshipperMaybe they just bump that number of happy years up. If someone is single, someone even getting one happy year with their soul mate sounds like heaven. Depends on how you feel about the better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. In life you don't know how many years you got, even if you hope for old age, but everyone that does happen can be cherished. So they found each other and got years of happiness and that's more than some (many?) get, so maybe that's part of why it gets a pass.

Thanks for the excellent and comprehensive review. I have heard of this movie title for years, but have never watched it. I think I will pass on watching it because of the ending. Too bad they weren’t brave enough back when it was made to let the women live happily ever after. It does happen, you know. There are plenty of movies and web series coming out of Thailand (which has just about legalized same sex marriage, including adoption) that I will devote my watching time to them. They don’t seem to have any problem with happy endings between same sex couples. The USA 🇺🇸 seems to be going backwards even now, 24 years after Jessica Stein.

Bonjour merci beaucoup pour cette magnifique vidéo vraiment j'ai apprécié et beaucoup aimé qu'elle belle histoire et aussie avec beaucoup d'émotions et d'amour merci beaucoup je vous enbrasse très fort Patricia de la France continuez vous le mérité énormément ❤😉😊🥰💋❤💋

@tpatriciabinet1515

3 ай бұрын

Bonjour merci beaucoup pour votre réponse qui me touche énormément et aussie le petit cœur je vous enbrasse très fort Patricia de la France continuez vous le mérité énormément ❤😉💋🤗❤

I hate this movie

@syedzaki2169

2 ай бұрын

Me too .over dramatic 😮