A woman searching for the perfect man instead discovers the perfect woman.A woman searching for the perfect man instead discovers the perfect woman.A woman searching for the perfect man instead discovers the perfect woman.
- Awards
- 8 wins & 3 nominations
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- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe cab scene where Helen and Jessica talk about blending lipstick was filmed after the filmmakers hailed a cab, paid the driver $20, the director drove, the director of photography was in the front seat and the sound woman climbed in the back trunk.
- GoofsWhen Jessica and her mother are getting their bridesmaids dresses fitted, Helen is upset to learn that Jessica never mentioned her brother's upcoming wedding. But the wedding would surely have been discussed at the Shabbat dinner at the Steins' that Helen attended three months prior.
- Quotes
Jessica: You don't appreciate the chaos and absurdity of life on this planet. You don't understand irony, or ethnicity, or eccentricity, or poetry, or the simple joy of being a regular at the diner on your block. I love that. You don't drink coffee or alcohol. You don't over eat. You don't cry when you're alone. You don't understand sarcasm. You plod through life in a neat, colorless, caffeine free, dairy free, conflict free way. I'm bold and angry and tortured and tremendous and I notice when someone has changed their hair part, or when someone is wearing two very distinctly different shades of black or when someone changes the natural temperment of their voice on the phone. I don't give out empty praise. I'm not complacent or well-adjusted. I can't spend fifteen minutes breathing and stretching and getting in touch with myself. I can't spend three minutes finishing an article. I check my answering machine nine times every day and I can't sleep at night because I feel that there is so much to do and fix and change in the world, and I wonder every day if I am making a difference and if I will ever express the greatness within me, or if I will remain forever paralyzed by muddled madness inside my head. I've wept on every birthday I've ever had because life is huge and fleeting and I hate certain people and certain shoes and I feel that life is terribly unfair and sometimes beautiful and wonderful and extraordinary but also numbing and horrifying and insurmountable and I hate myself a lot of the time. The rest of the time I adore myself and I adore my life in this city and in this world we live in. This huge and wondrous, bewildering, brilliant, horrible world.
- Crazy creditsFor our parents.
- ConnectionsEdited into Sex at 24 Frames Per Second (2003)
- SoundtracksPut on a Happy Face
Written by Lee Adams & Charles Strouse
Performed by Blossom Dearie
Courtesy of Strada Music Co. (ASCAP) and Capitol Records
Through arrangement with EMI-Capitol Special Markets
That's just what copy editor and hopeful painter "Jessica" (Jennifer Westfeldt) does in "Kissing Jessica Stein" leading to an awkward first encounter, then a close friendship and ultimately an intimate relationship with a stunning, smart and funny art gallery manager, "Helen" (Heather Jurgenson). The film tracks their relationships with each other and with the people in their lives - family, friends, co-workers.
The story could easily have sunk to the level of a zany, fluffy, sex comedy or, perhaps, strived to be a "message" drama. It does neither. What makes it wonderful is that all the characters have whole lives which they live in confusion and compassion, pathos and passion. Superficially, they are familiar Manhattan, affluent stereotypes. In reality, they have all the longings and frailties - and strengths - of people everywhere. The character development is real and affecting without being cloy, cynicism is at a minimum. Helen and Jessica haven't stepped out of a Woody Allen take on Manhattan life.
Is Jessica really coming out for life as a lesbian or is she trolling in unfamiliar waters out of desperation for a friendship that includes intimacy? Has Helen given up myriad lovers of both sexes to settle into a domesticated gay relationship? Are the answers there? Should they be?
If a Lifetime Achievement Oscar for portraying the Jewish mother-in-law is ever awarded Tovah Feldshuh will get it. In this film she hovers dangerously close to a familiar caricature while projecting a warmth and wisdom deeper than the conventional portrait of the hectoring, always worried Jewish mom. The opening scene at a Day of Atonement synagogue service is priceless.
"Kissing Jessica Stein" is an Indie production based on the two leading actresses' collaboration in writing "Lipstick," their 1997 play. These are two very smart and insightful women: I hope more comes from their fertile and caring understanding of human, not just female but human, needs.
This film is very New York with scenes from a number of neighborhoods. I have mixed feelings about the post-11 September premiere decision to delete shots of the World Trade Center and replace them with the midtown skyline. A reviewer noted that audiences at the premiere were distracted by the WTC-dominated panoramas.
In a largely full theater with a number of clearly lesbian couples along with many more single people and (probably) heterosexual couples it was really nice to be part of an audience that burst into frequent laughter not based on sexual orientation but rather together as people enjoying a really clever, funny-and-serious, good film.
- lawprof
- Mar 16, 2002
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Seeking Same
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $7,025,722
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $346,999
- Mar 17, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $10,013,424
- Runtime1 hour 37 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1