Rating: PG13
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 06/13/2000
SubTitles: French/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: 1
Run Time: 104 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: MGM
A petite New Jersey housewife finds self-fulfillment through amnesia in this
new wave comedy of errors set in New York's hip '80s downtown scene.
Rosanna Arquette stars as
Roberta, who turns to the personals for vicarious thrills after her four-year marriage to staid hot tub salesman
Gary (
Mark Blum) grows stale. Her favorite classified ads trace the romance of
Jim (
Robert Joy), a struggling musician, and
Susan (
Madonna), a SoHo vamp who's just narrowly escaped being murdered alongside one of her other boyfriends -- a gangster who recently stole some Egyptian jewelry. Through a series of complicated missteps,
Roberta ends up losing her memory and convincing both herself and a broodingly handsome young man named
Dez (
Aiden Quinn) that she's the elusive, adventurous
Susan. Soon,
Roberta finds herself being romanced by
Dez and pursued separately by her husband,
Jim,
Susan, and by a murderous mobster who's looking for the stolen jewels. For her second feature outing, which was partially inspired by
Jacques Rivette's
Celine and Julie Go Boating, director
Susan Seidelman filled her cast with hipster extras, downtown personalities, and New York thespians. Notable faces include comedian
Steven Wright; future indie mainstay
John Turturro; future TV stars
Michael Badalucco and
Laurie Metcalf;
punk singer
Richard Hell, who also starred in
Seidelman's
Smithereens; and performance artist
Ann Magnunson, who would star in the director's
Making Mr. Right. The big dance-club sequence was filmed at Danceteria, the disco that helped launch
Madonna's career. The scene, and the film, helped propel
"Into the Groove," one of the singer's all-time club classics, into the charts even though it was actually a b-side to the single
"Angel." ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
