MovieChat Forums > Single White Female (1992) Discussion > Poor Jennifer Jason Leigh

Poor Jennifer Jason Leigh

posted 7 years ago by jasonmovieguy (182)
7 replies | jump to latest

Single White Female tells the story of two lonely gals who become roommates in a large New York City apartment. They share secrets, beauty tips, outings to the hair salon, and a man. Because one of them is a pushover (Bridget Fonda), the other (Jennifer Jason Leigh) must often tell her how to deal with the horrible men in their lives.

The film takes place a year after Thelma & Louise set feminism in motion, and Ghost (1990) made it ok for girls to get haircuts like boys- thanks Demi Moore.
Fonda has just discovered her husband is cheating on her, and kicks him out. She bonds with a new roommate Leigh, but doesn't know how to be honest with her about little things; a new dog, for example. Fonda bites her tongue a lot over household rules. Leigh, sadly, is thrown to the curb once Fonda and her husband reconcile. Now she's forced to figure out where to live.

Many audiences sided with the passive-aggressive Fonda, but I hated her. Despite a bonding scene where after her boss makes a sexual advance, Leigh saves her- its pretty much dump on the weird girl the entire time. Leigh isn't psycho, she's misunderstood. So she likes to play dress up and wear the same clothes. What female roommates don't do this? So she flirts with her ex when he's around the house. Again, what woman doesn't do this?

The premise of the film gets lost in the final act, and I stopped paying attention. It's pretty clear that the theme of the story is woman empowerment, and getting over a breakup. Fonda and Leigh can be there for each other (even when the dog is killed in a sad accident that was no fault of either gal). But the filmmakers don't have a focus for it.

Rated R for language and nudity.
Final Grade: C

[–] Culburn (3638) 7 years ago

The old jason always puts down a fine comprehensive review of materiel.

Same here.

[–] jasonmovieguy (182) 7 years ago

Thanks Culburn! I try my best.

[–] iamnotarobot (36) 7 years ago

The lesson to learn from the movie----don't trust frumpy looking lesbians.

[–] CupidDeLocke (279) 5 years ago

Yes, Hedy is a psycho. You can’t state that the dog died in an accident as if it’s fact. The death is made ambiguous in the movie. It’s possible that Hedy killed the dog and we know that she was physically abusive to the helpless creature. Maybe you forgot, but she also murdered people in cold blood.

Hedy’s obsessive behavior isn’t normal. Grown women don’t go out of their way to dress like each other or have identical haircuts. Hedy was creepy and overstepped boundaries.

Most of the people defending Hedy are just guys with a hard-on for JJL. They bash Alli because she rejected her horrible boss, who they identify with.

[–] Mister Babadook (2709) 5 years ago

Hedy without a doubt killed the dog, she was trying to get Alli mad at Sam so she would break up with him, thats why she was flirting with him, and she set up Sam to be guilty over the dog dying, thats why she said to Sam "But i thought we could leave the window open now, i thought you fixed it". Plus right before the dog dies Hedy gets mad at it cause it wont come to her when shes calling it, and she goes "Fine", moments later we see the dogs dead.

So it was always pretty clear to me she killed it in an attempt to get Alli mad at Sam cause he was supposed to have fixed the fence on the balcony, she slightly tried to blame herself going "Its cause i interrupted you and didn't let you finish your work" but she clearly set it up to make Sam look like the one responsible for it. Cause later on she said to Alli "I can't believe he went on his trip right after Buddy died, and when it was clearly his fault".

Also wasn't it made pretty clear in the movie that Hedy killed her twin sister cause she was jealous of her? she lied and said she was a still born, then later near the end went on that whole speech about "Did you know one twin is always slightly prettier than the other one?" i don't think she outright said she killed her, i don't think she did, but she hinted at it pretty hard. So yeah i don't get how people have sympathy for Hedy at all.

[–] Wuchak (8850) 5 years ago

The film takes place a year after Thelma & Louise set feminism in motion

How exactly is "Thelma & Louise" empowering for females since it supports making rash, stupid decisions and ruining your life to the point of literal self-destruction?

"Alien" was a real feminist movie and it came out a dozen years earlier. Then there's "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (1965), "Devil Girl from Mars" (1954) and "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928), amongst myriad others.

[–] Drooch (5333) 4 years ago

There’s always going to be one nutter who’s on ‘team Heddy’. Reminds me of the psychos who proclaimed themselves ‘team Amy’ from Gone Girl 🤦🏻‍♂️