GRUNGY TIMES AT POST-RIDGEMONT HIGH

By Rob Salem

From The Toronto Star, 09.18.1992

I would imagine that Cameron Crowe is very cheesed off at David Frankel.

In the time that Crowe has been waiting for Warner Brothers to open his new film, Singles (originally scheduled for an early summer release), Frankel has come along with his much-talked about TV show, "Grapevine," which basically does the same sort of talking-head relationship trauma thing as Singles, only with slightly older and better-dressed characters.

Not only does this undercut the impact of what is, in its own right, a wryly amusing little ensemble comedy with a talented, incredibly charismatic young cast, it also leaves Crowe with absolutely nowhere to go from here.

Crowe's initial claim to fame was going undercover as a high-school student to research his 1979 book, "Fast Times At Ridgemont High," a sort of Beverly Hills 90210 without the Porsches. It became a movie, which Crowe also wrote, leading to his writing/directing debut with Say Anything, an altogether lovely comic romance about slightly older kids looking forward to college.

And now here is Singles, the Seattle-set story of a group of young adults who live in the same low-rise apartment complex, dealing with the same kind of relationship angst as Crowe's earlier teenaged characters, except that now they have to earn a living too.

The similarities don't stop there. Fast Times was notable for its unknown cast of future stars, among them Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Forest Whitaker, Nicolas Cage and Eric Stoltz.

The Singles ensemble is similarly impressive, though much more accomplished career-wise--Bridget Fonda (Leigh's roomie in Single White Female), Campbell Scott (Dying Young), Kyra Sedgwick (Emmy-nominated for "Miss Rose White"), Sheila Kelly ("L.A. Law") and Matt Dillon (A Kiss Before Dying).

(There are also a number of unexpected cameos, including Stoltz as a street mime, Batman director Tim Burton as a video auteur, Peter Horton as a video date, Tom Skerritt as the mayor, Crowe himself as a TV interviewer and basketballer Xavier McDaniel delivering a hilarious, sex-related one-liner I wouldn't dare ruin by revealing here--even if I could.)

The characters (and the talented actors who portray them) are the key--how they all relate, or fail to relate to one another is almost beside the point.

Judging by this film, the singles scene in Seattle is a kind of Dating Hell, particularly if you're a woman. Scott's character would seem to be the only eligible, interesting male in the entire city who does not sport one of those annoying little tufts of beard under his lower lip (and I say this as someone who also has an annoying little tuft of beard under his lower lip).

This can be directly attributed to Seattle's primary cultural export, "grunge rock," a pop music phenom guaranteed to sell millions of copies of the Singles soundtrack, featuring as it does such homegrown heroes as Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Alice In Chains, Replacement Paul Westerberg and The Lovemongers (a/k/a Heart's Wilson sisters).

It also allows Matt Dillon, as a grunge rocker/flower-delivery guy, the opportunity to play the guitar and sing really badly, to dress in filthy rags and grow his hair long and greasy, and, yes, to cultivate one of those annoying little tufts of beard under his lower lip.