Singles

Directed by Cameron Crowe, Singles details the romantic exploits of several twentysomething friends, including Bridget Fonda’s Janet, Campbell Scott’s Steve, and Matt Dillon’s Cliff, over the course of a few eventful months. Filmmaker Crowe, working from his own screenplay, does a superb job of initially establishing the movie’s myriad of affable characters and the distinctive landscape in which they reside, and it’s clear, certainly, that Singles benefits quite substantially from the top-notch efforts of its thoroughly appealing roster of performers – with the actors’ endlessly charismatic work going a long way towards smoothing over the narrative’s sporadic bumps and missteps. The movie’s agreeable vibe is heightened and perpetuated by its less-than-subtle yet compelling approach to the romantic relationships of its various characters (ie there’s plenty of chemistry between the story’s protagonists), while the ongoing emphasis on the early ’90s Seattle grunge scene and its most well-known participants is, to put it mildly, fairly impossible to resist – which, when coupled with Crowe’s gift for engaging, authentic dialogue, ultimately does cement Singles‘ place as a reasonably memorable romcom that is, for the most part, more entertaining and captivating than one might’ve anticipated.

*** out of ****