Single White Female (1992)

Why so much hype?

The first must-see film of the year.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Along with 'Basic Instinct', this is the quintessential erotic thriller for me. 'Single White Female' is the standard format for how to do an erotic thriller, a textbook example, and the movie has all the good and bad that implies.It's a psychological character study, mainly focusing on the relationship of two single white females who live as roommates. Bridget Fonda plays the protagonist, the insecure and youthful Allison, and Jennifer Jason Leigh her roommate Hedy, who is a quick-tempered and manipulative country girl. The conflict between the characters ebbs and flows, and the movie poses questions about narcissistic behavior and infidelity.There's a bunch of nudity and sex, and some of it is an essential part of the story. One sex scene even directly leads to a character death, one that is really campy and funny. The story is a downward spiral and by the ending sequence the movie has turned into pretty much a slasher horror.

"Single White Female" is about a software designer named Allison Jones (Bridget Fonda) who kicks her boyfriend Sam Lawson (Steven Weber) to the curve after having discovered he's been having secret affairs with his ex-wife. Desperate into finding a roommate to help her out financially, she brings in a frumpy bookstore employee named Hedy Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to fill the voids and before you know it, they become the best of friends. But when Sam tries to reconcile with Allison, Hedy's sanity becomes dead as vengeance becomes her priority by trying to keep them apart even if it leads to murder as a way to protect her from getting her heart broken again. Ever since the 1990 Stephen King adaptation Oscar-winning thriller "Misery", many of these psycho-thrillers were cropping up at the time. From "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", to "The Good Son", to "Pacific Heights" and my personal favourite "Unlawful Entry". The common thread of these stories focuses on the realms of middle-class suburbanites putting their trust in someone at first and then before you know it, the person who you've trusted becomes not who he/she is cut out to be. Before you know, it when you least expected, the trusted ones have plots to go as far as to get what they want, even if it means to kill someone along the way with no remorse of conscious of what they're doing. To me these kinds of thrillers are more fun to watch than the slasher films that Jason and Freddy had done in the 1980's. In "Single White Female", the message is that what you may see in the papers may look good in writing, only to realize that you were better off without what you just purchased.As a psychological thriller, "Single White Female" was not as good as the ones Alfred Hitchcock directed, but it's still a fun movie to enjoy and succeeds in this sub-genre. Where it went wrong was that it was too by-the-numbers in terms of its delivery. Director Barbet Schroeder provides the shock value too early in the film that we never get the time to savour the moments. The dog's unfortunate demise, the subliminal messages about the broken iron grille and voices culminating from the apartment vents. The more diabolical scenes stem from when Hedy cuts her hair, dyes it from brunette to ginger and starts wearing Allison's clothes. It was strange, erotic, but quite effective especially when she performs oral sex towards Sam who's oblivious that it's not Allison that's seducing him. But then there are moments where it can be quite surreal when the stab in the head via stiletto shoe displays an awkward scene which feels very cartoon like and seems out of place in a thriller like this. The Victorian apartment set-up is actually effective for a film of this genre. Even though she comes from a long list of A-list movie performers in her family which includes Peter, Henry and Jane Fonda, Bridget Fonda never was able to reach that pinnacle. Her character was quite cold and not entirely that effective. Jennifer Jason Leigh fares much better as the evil roommate Hedy (especially when she dresses like Allison and becomes her evil duplicate), and when her insanity explodes, we are all anticipating as to what menace she's going to commit to next. It's her twitch and nervous delivery lines is what gets grating at times. "Single White Female" to this day stands out as a good psycho- thriller. Not necessarily the best, but has an angle toward this genre that is original and stands out better than the mindless slasher films that were popular in the 1980's. The acting was not the best, but not the worst either and even though there were some engaging scenes, its formula was still by-the-numbers in its delivery. In 2002, Schroeder would direct another psycho-thriller "Murder By Numbers", which fared better as an homage to the actual Leopold and Loeb murders. In 2005, a sequel to "Single White Female" came out with "Single White Female 2:The Psycho" where Kirsten Miller and Brook Burns play similar characters to the ones Fonda and Leigh played. Who knew?

"Single White Female" is a psychological thriller in which obsession, insanity and murder figure strongly. Its mood is dark and threatening and its shadowy interiors and exaggerated camera angles make the atmosphere even more unsettling. The story, which is based on John Lutz's novel called "SWF Seeks Same", is intriguing right from the start and builds up the tension so effectively that it becomes totally engrossing. It's suspenseful, edgy and visually strong and features a couple of characters whose interaction ultimately puts both their lives in danger.Allie Jones (Bridget Fonda) is a young New York City software designer who throws her live-in lover called Sam (Steven Weber) out of their apartment when she discovers that he recently cheated on her with his ex-wife. Allie doesn't relish the idea of living alone and so advertises for a roommate to share the cost of her large Manhattan apartment. After receiving numerous expressions of interest, Allie spontaneously decides to invite the rather withdrawn-looking Hedy Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to move in.Hedy and Allie soon become good friends but Allie gradually starts to become unnerved by some of Hedy's behaviour. Sam then tries to reconcile with Allie but Hedy intercepts and hides his letter and erases the messages that he leaves on the telephone answering machine. Later, when Sam seems to have been accepted back by Allie, Hedy tries to discredit him by killing Allie's dog and making it appear that he was responsible. Things then get worse for Allie when Hedy copies her hairstyle and taste in clothes so closely that the two women look like doubles.The discomfort and anger that Allie experiences as a result of Hedy's changed appearance becomes even more intense when she discovers that her roommate had lied about her past and her identity and had also recently started to visit nightclubs where she adopted Allie's identity. Allie then becomes desperate to get rid of her roommate but when Hedy finds out, she becomes increasingly psychotic and degenerates into blackmail, hostage taking and murder before her rampage is finally brought to a halt.Hedy's identical twin had died in childhood and the lack of completeness that she'd felt through the rest of her life was at the root of her obsession with Allie and her need to be her "twin". She carried a profound sense of guilt about her secret past and this clearly played a part in her insanity. Jennifer Jason Leigh is exceptional as this woman who not only uses three different identities but also goes through some extraordinary and extreme behavioural changes. The fact that she portrays these so convincingly is very impressive and worthy of high praise.Allie is confident and smart but also vulnerable and it was possibly Hedy's neediness that registered with Allie and made her seem to be a suitable potential roommate. Allie also has the misfortune to be badly abused by everyone around her from her unfaithful boyfriend, to a client who sexually assaults her and even a trusted neighbour who'd regularly been listening in to her most intimate conversations. Bridget Fonda is remarkably subtle and believable in the way that she conveys the various complexities of Allie's character.The quality of the acting in this movie is consistently good but the outstanding supporting performance comes from Stephen Tobolowsky who is disgustingly smug and sleazy as Allie's business client who tries to exploit her financially and sexually.

"New friend turned psycho" films have been made before, multiple times, but this was a good one. It is hard to remember sometimes which came first. Was it "Play Misty for Me" or that one with Glenn Close? The stereotypical gay friend upstairs, and the fiancé who can't seem to keep himself zipped up. Yet even the less than perfect men in the movie aren't all bad. Sure the client boss enjoys a little sexual harassment, and the fiancé isn't perfectly faithful, but then in reality who is morally perfect in life? And while both are jerks in different ways, poetic justice sets in when they both get dispatched permanently, while the gay friend only suffers a concussion from which he timely revives and saves Bridget Fonda from being killed by psycho woman. The movie is true in that most people are neither all good or all bad, and that once in a long while you run into someone who is a sociopath and frankly diabolical tendencies are breathtaking.