Singles (1992)

Directed by Cameron Crowe. Starring Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick, Bridget Fonda, Matt Dillon, Sheila Kelley, Jim True-Frost, James LeGros, Bill Pullman, Ally Walker, Devon Raymond, Camilo Gallardo. [R]

Writer/director Crowe’s glimpse into the Seattle singles scene had the benefit of fortuitous timing—shot just before and released just after the region became a new pop culture epicenter—but the shallow-observations-enriched-by-vivid-environments angle worked better in the first film he wrote (Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Scott and Sedgwick play the central pair of lonely-hearts who find each other and go through ups and downs while navigating the messy dating rituals, but the others (including lunkheaded rocker Dillon and Fonda’s desperate doormat) are mostly reduced to quirky attributes and punchlines. Has a tendency to be as cutesy and glib as a “wannabe-trendy” sitcom (Crowe even claimed that this film inspired the TV show, “Friends”), but it’s only occasionally amusing, and even less frequently perceptive. A couple of Seattle grunge bands appear and perform (Alice in Chains, Soundgarden), while members of Pearl Jam have bit parts as musicians in Dillon’s band; all three groups provide music for the terrific time-capsule soundtrack (indeed, the songs and surrounding milieu of the energetic club scene and grass-roots DIY aesthetic are far more powerful onscreen than any of these trite relationships). Eric Stoltz, Tom Skerritt, Tim Burton, and Crowe himself all cameo; blink and you’ll miss a young Paul Giamatti.

63/100