ONLY CONNECT: SINGLES
One of the many things Hollywood movies do not get is how men and women can relate to each other on a regular level. Certainly, there are inequities between men and women, and movies are right to explore that in an honest way. And certainly, there's also room for more conventional type love stories, if they're done well. But too often, movies act like they don't have a clue as to how men and women, or people in general, can connect to each other, without reducing the stories to tired conventions, irony, or cynicism, or even all of those at once. Cameron Crowe, who started out as a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine before becoming a screenwriter, has always been interested in how people connect. Despite being set in the exploitation teen comedy genre, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982) actually cared about its characters through their often bumpy ride (the sequel, THE WILD LIFE (1984), was a rip-off job, but that's the only blight on Crowe's career so far). And his next film, SAY ANYTHING (1989), which also marked his directorial debut, took the teen romantic comedy and had characters that related each other in a real way, rather than a teen movie way. With SINGLES, his second outing as writer-director, he's gone back to the ensemble format of FAST TIMES to create his most mature work yet.
The movie was set in Seattle among twentysomethings, or as they were generally known at the time, "Generation X." It also featured music by most of the popular grunge acts, including Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains (Nirvana was too expensive to get), most coming from Seattle (Smashing Pumpkins being an exception). This led to people thinking it was a movie about grunge music, or a slacker movie, which probably contributed to why the movie didn't do well at the box office (though it later became a cult favorite on video). Since the soundtrack was well marketed (and indeed did better than the movie - in a rare case, critics also liked it, since it was put together with more care than most song soundtracks are), that might have led to people being confused about SINGLES being a grunge movie. But also, there's a prejudice about what music appears in a movie about love, which I'll get to later. I will also later address the issue about it being a slacker movie.
Crowe's movie is mostly set in a single apartment building (called, appropriately enough, "Singles"), where five of the main characters live. They include Steve (Campbell Scott), a traffic engineer, Janet (Bridget Fonda), a waitress studying architecture, Cliff (Matt Dillon), who fronts a band called Citizen Dick, Bailey (Jim True), a maitre'd, and Debbie (Sheila Kelley), who works advertising at a TV station. The other major character is Linda (Kyra Sedgewick), an environmental worker. The five who live at the apartment are all friends, and Steve and Janet also used to be involved. The major romantic relationships of the movie involve Steve and Linda, and Janet and Cliff. Steve and Linda meet at a club, and while Steve is immediately attracted, Linda, who's been burned recently, is less eager to commit, and their relationship moves in fits and starts (she gets pregnant, he proposes to her, but after a car accident, she loses the baby). Janet is in love with Cliff, who takes her for granted. She's so in love with Cliff (or maybe with being in love with Cliff) that she even considers having breast surgery to make them bigger. At the last minute, however, she decides not to have the surgery, decides Cliff isn't worth it, and dumps him. Of course, soon afterwards, Cliff no longer takes Janet for granted, and wants her back.
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