Certification. 15
Running Time. 1 hour 44 mins
Director. Susan Seidelman
Cast. Rosanna Arquette, Mark Blum, Robert Joy, Madonna, Laurie Metcalf, Will Patton, Aidan Quinn, John Turturro.
Rating. 46%
"The hottest voice in rock is now the freshest face on film."
Madonna was, perhaps, the most famous person on the planet in the summer of 1985. She was celebrating the phenomenal success of her second studio album, Like A Virgin, and her first number one single in the UK, Into The Groove. She wowed crowds at Live Aid, married Sean Penn and made her big screen debut in Desperately Seeking Susan.
Stifled by suburban drudgery, bored New Jersey housewife Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) becomes obsessed with the exploits of a wild and promiscuous couple, Jim (Robert Joy) and Susan (Madonna), who leave messages for each other in the personal ads of newspapers.
The two female leads are the undoubted driving force of Desperately Seeking Susan. Madonna is the eponymous Susan, a thrift-store free spirit without conscience or responsibility. She likes to do whatever she wants and doesn't really care about what people may think of her. The role was written in such a manner as to allow Madonna to play Madonna. Yet, she still struggles in the role.
In stark contrast, Rosanna Arquette shines as the frustrated housewife, who abandons her initially shy demeanor and embraces the vicarious nature of the character. This early cinematic role [a role she was clearly too young to play] nonetheless afforded Rosanna Arquette a BAFTA (for Best Actress in a Supporting Role) for her performance. I saw Desperately Seeking Susan at the time of release and vividly remember coming out of the cinema completely smitten with Rosanna Arquette. I adored her in subsequent films such as After Hours, 8 Million Ways To Die and The Big Blue.
Director Susan Seidelman brings a 1980s Lower Manhattan zeitgeist to Desperately Seeking Susan. The mistaken identity, the love triangle, the stolen Egyptian earrings and the pursuit by an inept killer are all contained in an intricate and improbable plot. But strip away the Wild Strawberry Bubblicious, the torn fishnets and the pop-synth soundtrack, and the simple, timeless storyline is the sort of mistaken identity screwball comedy of the 1930s that would have once starred Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne or Katharine Hepburn.
Desperately Seeking Susan is a fond trip down memory lane for those of us who were teenagers in the 1980s. An artefact of the decade and along with the likes of - Beverly Hills Cop, The Breakfast Club, Back To The Future, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Jumping' Jack Flash - an archetypal film of the time.
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