MovieChat Forums > Singles (1992) Discussion > Singles...23 years later

Singles...23 years later


I loved this film in 1992, so much so that I went out a bought the soundtrack.

I saw it last night for the first time in 15+ years, and my opinion of the film has really gone down. What seemed fresh over two decades ago now seems like an shameless effort to market a generation and its lifestyle. Its selling grunge for sure, with Chris Cornell, and Pearl Jam all acting, and the soundtrack is like a best of grunge.

Back in the early 90s, there was an idea of a radically new generation (Gen X), as almost a second coming of the 1960s. But this was all hype, and by 1995, the idea had become a joke. It makes this film obsolete.

The performances were generally ok, but Campbell Scott and Kyra Sedgewick were so annoying, it ruins their storyline. Matt Dillon is miscast. Bridget Fonda is really the only bright spot.

I'll take Punctuality

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I caught about the last half or two-thirds on TV the other day........never seen it before but am a huge fan of the 90s "grunge" era (for lack of a better term).

It kept my interest. It's classic Cameron Crowe. The guy only seems to make sweet little romantic comedies, yet they always seem to manage to keep my interest.

Was it a ripoff of the grunge scene? I don't know if I'd necessarily say that. Cameron Crowe is a huge music guy and I think he worked for Rolling Stone or some rock magazine for a period of time before he started making movies, which inspired 'Almost Famous'. Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains had a great cameo in Jerry Maguire. So I do think Crowe had a genuine interest in the music scene and the people in the music business seem to respect him. He was married to Nancy Wilson of the band 'Heart' for a long time.

It's fun to see the 90s Seattle scene 23 years later - but the tone of the film is almost too sweet to feel particularly authentic to the era? Or maybe that's being too cynical. It's not like it's a documentary of the grunge scene. The film could be about any generation of young twenty-something singles.

I guess the point of the film is to show the sometimes painful yet necessary paths of self-exploration and finding love.

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Matt Dillon is miscast
I disagree. I found Dillon to be very convincing in the film, and I'm sure he played the role as it was written. The guy was hilarious.



Hey there, Johnny Boy, I hope you fry!

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I thought Matt Dillon was the best part of the movie but I know what you mean about the Gen X thing... Funny this movie made us Gen Xers seem like the young hip crowd that would stay that way forever. When you're in your early 20's you feel like you know everything and will stay young forever. Now 23 years later as a person in my early 40's I feel so old. I can't believe it's been so long and now kids who were born the year Singles came out are graduating from COLLEGE!!! I feel like I went to sleep as a young person and woke up old. Where did the time go? Like the song goes- "when did Motley Crue become classic rock?!" Now even Pearl Jam is classic rock! I never thought life would turn out this way. Where did the time go? What HAPPENED??? It can drive you insane if you think about it too long so maybe it's best to just not think about it. ;-(


"That's a very nice hat you're wearing and I don't mean that in an Eddie Haskell kind of way."

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I haven't seen it since it came out and I remember quite enjoying it. However I do remember thinking at the time: 'Designer Grunge'.



She's a man, it's a sled, he's dead already.

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I was in college in 92. I put off college just like my friends because marriage and settling down in my early 20s wasn't in my plans. I jot a job, bought a Jeep Wrangler and we cruised from parties to clubs. So in 91 I as 25, in college and dating my wife. Grunge was the sound I waited for for ten years. Since the baby boomers controlled the music industry we got crappy meaningless hair band rock. Times seem to go so slow back then. Its true that society thought we were going to be baby boomers 2.0 but we rebelled against their phoney materialist crap. As a Genxer I saw and still see them as narcissistic sellouts. Now that I am married 20 years I do tend to look back on movies like Singles, Reality Bites, Hype etc. because they do take me back to a time where Generation X was coming into our own. I will say some thing about our generation. We did not alienate or shun the generation that came after us like the baby boomers did to us. Lots of generation Y people look at us like the 90s beat necks of the 50s and that's cool. In many ways we share the same ideals. Sadly we also share the crappy economy thanks to the boomer generation. Those sellouts gave away away our jobs and future so they could live big. They robbed us of our future.

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Grunge was the sound I waited for for ten years. Since the baby boomers controlled the music industry we got crappy meaningless hair band rock.


Yes! Those were the best times of my life. I can't figure out where the last 20 years went.

I will say some thing about our generation. We did not alienate or shun the generation that came after us like the baby boomers did to us. Lots of generation Y people look at us like the 90s beat necks of the 50s and that's cool. In many ways we share the same ideals. Sadly we also share the crappy economy thanks to the boomer generation. Those sellouts gave away our jobs and future so they could live big. They robbed us of our future.


That's the spirit! The irony is that 'our generation' has become just like all the others.

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Couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you!

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Singles is a decent movie with an epic soundtrack (to me the highlight is seeing cameos from AIC, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden).


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» nec spe,nec metu •´¯`» I've been tasting roads my whole life. http://i.imgur.com/hhu3ivw.gif

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Funny ain't it? I saw it when it hit theaters too and I was mildly intrigued by the story but more interested in the featured music and lifestyle. After revisiting this movie, as well as Crowe's "Almost Famous" on Blu Ray I was amazed how light-hearted and superficial the story lines from both movies really are. That wasn't my initial reaction when the films came out but I guess age and experience give you more perspective over the years.

I agree with you about Matt Dillon. I was never really a fan of his and felt his career should have faded after The Outsiders. He'll always be that East Coast tough Irish bruiser type of character. When he plays against that type he just doesn't pull it off for me.

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I so agree! I was 19 when this film was released and LOVED it. Mostly because when it was released the "Seattle scene" had not totally broken completely, at least not in the San Fernando Valley, where I grew up. I also went out & bought the soundtrack & loved it; well, at least all the songs that were still considered obscure & were rarely heard, like Seasons & Drown. I re-watched this film a few days ago & totally agree with you about how I view it now. At 19, I saw this film as fresh, new & iconic. At 42, I saw it as silly, pretentious, trendy & very overplayed. But hey, what can I say? They were marketing this movie towards our age group EXACTLY in 1992, so it's a win for the studio & promotions department. I went on a few dates & saw this film in the process during its run in local theaters, & I'm still in touch with many of the guys I ended up making friends with during that period in my life. I still think the best lines in this film are the ones about Mr. Sensitive Ponytail Man & "I was just nowhere near your neighborhood..." & of course Tad Doyle answering Janet's wrong number phone call with "I think you've got the wrong number, lady, but I'll be right over!" :)

And BTW, I still LOVE Tad! Probably because they never really went "mainstream." Infrared Riding Hood was a brilliant album!

^*^ PDB ^*^

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BTW, as an addendum to my previous reply, let me also add that I really enjoyed Cameron Crowe's previous films. As a matter of fact, Fast Times at Ridgemont High was almost totally shot in my neck o' the woods (San Fernando Valley, Granada Hills, to be more specific). The classic shots of Brad driving down the street in his seafood fast food costume where he encounters Nancy Wilson of Heart in the next car was done on Chatsworth Street in Granada Hills, my hometown, very close to its intersection with White Oak Street, where the flying bicycle shots of E.T. were shot (the street with all the tall trees & the cop cars blocking their path). The mall Fast Times was shot in? One of my pre-teen hangout malls, Sherman Oaks Galleria, to be exact. The high schools used were Canoga, Monroe, & Van Nuys; I went to Kennedy, but had friends attending all those schools. Even the house they used as Stacy's house was local. That whole film was a love letter to my hometown, so of course I'm gonna love everything about it (then again, so was E.T. because Spielberg discovered the SFV in the early 80's). So it's not that I don't care for Cameron's work; as a whole, I think his writing has a lot of heart. I loved Say Anything (another movie that catered to my generation, but way lessor-known, & also starring Jeremy Piven as one of the guys sitting at the Gas 'N Sip), Almost Famous (for the music & many of the scenesters that came from my area, some of whom I had encountered in my travels), and Vanilla Sky (I know, I know...so shoot me). Only wanted to add this because I didn't want to seem like I was trashing Crowe's work in general; just how Singles was marketed during a whole different era specifically for Gen X'ers. Personally, I would be totally happy if I didn't have to hear grunge music from the "Seattle Scene" for the remainder of my life!

^*^ PDB ^*^

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I loved it back in '92 and I still love it. As far as I'm concerned the movie barely touches on the Seattle grunge scene. It's a straight-up romantic comedy that happens to be set in Seattle. And the soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal. Ea?ily one of the best movie soundtracks of the last 30 years.

Bridget Fonda and Matt Dillon are particularly great. Yes, Kyra Sedgewick was miscast but it doesn't ruin the movie by a long-shot. Singles is definitely a snap-shot of the twenty-something life in the early 90s. I was in my early 20s in '92 and this movie was a pretty accurate portrayal.

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Perhaps obsolete is the wrong word. 'Singles' music, fashion and attitudes are very particular to a certain generation and a certain time. That time is long gone and that generation is now middle-aged.

But, I can see how it could be relatable to today's youth in a nostalgic sort of way. The idea of 'generation identity' has become lost today. The 90s and Gen X was the last time there was a strong movement in youth culture, although it was short-lived. It was an exciting time to be young, at least for a while.

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