KISSING JESSICA STEIN

Speaking of women writing their own romantic comedies to star in (see my last post, on TRAINWRECK), this 2001 movie touched on some of the same challenges for single creative women but from a different perspective, not as raunchy and more thoughtful, or maybe I mean more over thoughtful, a la Woody Allen's usual neurotic leading roles.

The star and co-writer Jennifer Westfeldt, with her co-star and co-writer Heather Juergensen, have written a role for Westfeldt as the Woody Allen style nerdy neurotic but from a female perspective, making it a very funny and intellectually satisfying experience. Because it came out the year I was going through cancer and its removal, it was among the many movies I missed seeing.

I'm happy to have caught up with it and only sorry that Westfeldt and Juergensen didn't go on to make more movies, because KISSING JESSICA STEIN is a total triumph of film making, for my taste. I initially watched it because an old friend, Scott Cohen, has one of the lead male roles and pulls it off nicely, but in the end it was the two female leads that were the revelation.

Brilliantly written, directed (by Charles Horman-Wurmfeld) and shot, if you haven't caught up to this one, I highly recommend you do.