Popular reviews

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  Review by Sally Jane Black ★★★★½ 6

  Let's start with Madonna. She's a complicated figure. She is the culmination of appropriation of so many facets of dance, disco, and other New York subcultures in a way that is both off-putting and alluring. She is, at this late point in her career, more ego than human in the public sphere, but back when this film was made, she was an upstart, a spirit of perseverance and sexuality that had just enough defiance, just enough DIY grit, just enough savvy to ride the music video wave to superstardom. In the interval, she wore a lot of different labels, but deep down, in secret, noticeable only to those who bothered to really listen, she was always the same thing: a…

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  Review by Willow Maclay ★★★★ 1

  When Seidelman shoots her characters often times it is from the feet up, but it's not about a sexual gaze or the leering of bodies, but instead it's to get a full look at an outfit. Her lens becomes a mirror that moves from heels to hose to dress to necklace to make-up to hair, and it's almost always shot through the eyes of a character who happens to be a woman. There's a lovingness in gesture towards this camera movement that screams "Look at this outfit!", that personifies a covetous feeling that is most present in Desperately Seeking Susan's role model as New Wave Goddess imagery through Madonna, and it's entirely about the ensemble instead of the body which makes Seidelman's lens feel intrinsically linked to clothing. In turn this makes the way she shoots women to feel like both a celebration of women and femininity.

  you can read the entire piece here
  curtsiesandhandgrenades.blogspot.ae/2015/05/female-filmmaker-project-fashion-in.html

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★ 1

  feels like Aidan Quinn walked so Jake Johnson could run. I could watch Madonna say "hiya" to Laurie Metcalf on loop. bisexual canon! the perils of thrifting! John Turturro!!

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  Review by Aaron Michael ★★★

  Shoulda been gayer!!!

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  Review by eels reels ★★★★ 1

  dez sadly cradling his cat in his hammock...i really don’t know a better man

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  Review by cuckoochanel ★★★½ 10

  This will make entry #23 in the month-long NYC movie marathon I’m undertaking with my lucky star to commemorate the city and our furloughed annual trip.

  There are plenty of merits to Susan Seidelman’s hit second feature Desperately Seeking Susan—beyond serving as a cinematic vehicle for Madonna’s rising star and a breakout piece for Rosanna Arquette, it also features John Turturro, Aidan Quinn, Laurie Metcalf, Steven Wright, Rockets Redglare, Richard Edson and Ann Magnuson in early roles. Evocative costume design by Santo Loquasto perfectly juxtaposes the DIY downtown style against the more conservative, suburban looks of New Jersey domesticity. And there is a plethora of mid-80s New York photography, including shots of a scaffolding-enclosed Statue of Liberty mid-renovation, interiors of…

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  Review by sydney ★★★★ 2

  absolutely delightful, would make a great double feature with SOMETHING WILD. roberta is extremely relatable & i loved her!! aesthetics!!!! girl power vibes!!!! chick flix forever!!!!

  low-key MVPs: power couple laurie metcalf & steven wright

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  Review by theriverjordan ★★★½ 30

  “Desperately Seeking Susan” succumbs to the failure of being all style and no substance. But its style is so definitive - it created the attitude of an entire generation. 

  Director Susan Seidelman’s citations for “Susan’s” influences draw from a wide depth of cinematic history. Seidelman intended the film as a reinterpretation of “Céline and Julie Go Boating,” as framed by the rhythm of early slapstick classics. “Susan,” though, is a bit too desperate to mimic. Not quick enough for bullet-paced slapstick, and too grounded in convention to channel the dreamy surrealism of “Boating.” 

  “Susan” is better taken as its own invention. Or - as the moment where one of its stars invented herself. 

  That would be Madonna — hired onto…

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  Review by Josh Gillam ★★★

  While a mainstream hit at the time, Desperately Seeking Susan is actually quite a deceptively offbeat tale at heart, director Susan Seidelman taking a variety of different genres and putting them all together to tell this story about a woman who finds herself able to break out of her restricting everyday life by inadvertently becoming someone else.

  Seidelman keeps lots of plates spinning as complications and mistaken identities mount, the filmmaker keenly interested in the theme of role reversals over the course of Roberta’s journey. It’s almost like an urban Alice in Wonderland in some respects, this dissatisfied housewife going down the rabbit hole—not in a literal sense of course—but instead by being able to see the world in ways she…

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  Review by Cory ★★★½

  "You know, I could get used to a place like this - got any pot?"

  With Smithereens being an aesthetic potrait of the waning years of punk, 1985's Desperately Seeking Susan is aptly new wave—polished & pasteled, & a major departure from Seidelman's first feature.

  A new favorite for the era in terms of energy & style. Perfect use of pastels with ambient pink & green lighting throughout—there's a fantastic shot of a silhouetted John Lurie playing his saxophone draped in a deep green. An eclectic soundtrack, from soul, to pop, to even Iggy Pop. I always love to hear "Lust For Life" in any context. And it features a stacked cast, with Maddona honestly being the strongest for me in terms of performance.

  Although I dig Smithereens drab appearance & loose plot a bit more—an amnesia plot device isn't my favorite thing in the world—it's still a pretty fun 80's fairy-tale comedy that has a lot going for it.
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  Thanks for reading!✌

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  Review by Will Steele ★★★½

  Aidan Quinn in a hammock hugging a cat. That’s it, that’s the review.

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  Review by Prateek Sharma ★★½

  Quite a 80s film, started well then dragged at midway and ended in very predictable and boring way.. But have to say it's still a fun one time watch.. Madonna really played the character Susan well, this role is perfect for her, Rosanna Arquette is okayish....This film could have been like "after hour" but the dialogue, situation and characters were so dumb and questionable that it wasn't making much sense after a time.. This film could have been way better with a better writer. Oh and yes whoever was in charge of Madonna's dresses, well done. Loved her each costume and that iconic jacket.