Memorable for giving Madonna her first starring role—as Susan, a free spirit dressed in thrift-store-chic fashions who connects with her musician boyfriend through personal ads in the local weekly papers—this modern bohemian take on the classic screwball comedy (complete with amnesia, mistaken identity, and stolen treasure treated as secondhand jewelry) also offers a great time capsule of 1980s New York. Rosanna Arquette made her breakthrough here as Roberta Glass, a suburban romantic in an unfulfilling marriage who loses her memory and ends up falling in love with a handsome young movie projectionist named Dez (Aidan Quinn), who thinks that she's Susan. Director Susan Seidelman had been an indie filmmaker in New York when she was offered the film, and she injected it with a lively Greenwich Village street culture and a supporting cast of distinctive local performers not yet known to the rest of America, including John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Ann Magnuson, and Richard Edson. Madonna was not a superstar when shooting began but was a hit recording artist by the time the film bowed in 1985, and the soundtrack features her classic song “Into the Groove.” Thirty years later, Desperately Seeking Susan is still colorful, buoyant, and full of personality. Re-released on DVD and bowing on Blu-ray, extras include audio commentary by director Seidelman and the producers, and an alternate ending. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)
Desperately Seeking Susan
Kino Lorber, 104 min., PG-13, DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $29.95 Volume 30, Issue 1
Desperately Seeking Susan
Star Ratings
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