Kissing Jessica Stein

For those who missed it, two or three weeks ago (I can't remember which and am too lazy to check), I selected Seven Pounds as the film that will be my first Full Education. Naturally, that means that the foreseeable future will consist of reviews that get me to that point. Now, to clarify, when it comes to which cast members I need to watch the entire back catalogue of, my rule is simple. It's anyone who is in the opening credits. In the case of Seven Pounds, that means these people.

• Will Smith
• Rosario Dawson
• Michael Ealy
• Barry Pepper
• Woody Harrelson
• Elpidia Carrillo
• Bill Smitrovich
• Robinne Lee
• Tim Kelleher
• Joe Nunez

Then, there will also be the writer Grant Nieporte and director Gabriele Muccino. I begin with a dark horse of a film.

The Partially Educated Review
Coming out (by way of idealism)

The Seven Pounds Connection: A very early (and equally brief) role from Michael Ealy. 

In 50 Words or Less: A sweet-natured film led by two hugely likeable performances. It's just unfortunate that it's brave subject matter is explored in an overly safe manner that seems scared of shaking the nest.

In Detail: Jennifer Westfeldt isn't a household name. She's not even a face that I'd put any amount of money on you recognising, but she's had a curious sort of career. Every five years or so, she releases a film in which she stars in a role that she's written for herself (she gets someone else to direct). The rest of the time she takes unmemorable bit parts, presumably for paying the bills whilst she writes her next project. I've seen two of her films (this and Friends With Kids) and they're both entirely fine, coasting along with a sort of cute rose-tinted view of the world. With Kissing Jessica Stein, that is both an asset and a detriment.

After the adamantly heterosexual title character responds to a 'women seeking women' ad in the classifieds section, she finds herself dabbling in the idea of a lesbian relationship. Curiously, despite the "not for bible belt consumption" plot, the film plays it incredibly safe. Any desire to present a view of societal issues with homosexuality or to make any sort of comment on the difficulties of coming out is muted by the fact that everyone who finds out is instantly accepting of the whole situation. Though it's a beautiful ideal, it feels fake. The film presents two hugely likeable characters in Westfeldt's Stein and Heather Juergensen's Helen (Juergensen co-wrote with Westfeldt), meaning you will care about the relationship and want it to succeed. Unless you're a raging homophobe, in which case...

When it shies away from much more than a hint of the difficulties coming their way, it feels like a squandered opportunity. The filmmaker's appear to lack confidence in whether these characters are winning over their audience and throw in overly frequent reminders of how great it all is. They want you to go along with it and you should go along with it, but the film could have taken the risk of including some voices of dissension in order to create a more real-world view.

Though that's a problem, the undeniably positive atmosphere created by the film does put conjure up warm, happy feelings. The narrative packs some surprises along the way (I can't imagine many will correctly predict how it ends) and the dialogue feels relatively sharp. There's some odd directorial choices here and there. For example, one of the initial love scenes between two white women has a song blatantly written for a black audience played over it. I won't go into deals, but you'll know it when you here it. Mostly though, the focus wisely remains on dialogue and characterisation. Kissing Jessica Stein feels like a film that should have caused more conversation and debate than it did. That it didn't is mostly it's own fault, but it's still worth the time.

SIX out of 10