April 26, 1996
Fox
Comedy, Romance
VHS
B
This is a bittersweet, funny, and amiable rom-com but it is not without its issues. To begin with, our heroine Abby, as played by 31-year-old Janeane Garofalo, is just not plausible as a woman who is so insecure that she would lie about her own identity when she meets a charming, handsome, but down-to-earth Brit (Ben Chaplin). (After all, it's not like she's got a huge nose, like Steve Martin in Roxanne.) Without pitting women against each other, I do have to say that I'm not alone in finding Garofalo far more attractive than Uma Thurman, in this or any other movie. Nothing against Ms. Thurman. She's cute and quite likable here. I enjoy the friendship dynamic between Abby and Noelle. In fact, if this had been the indie movie that Garofalo thought she had signed on for, or for that matter a porn movie, the triangle could be resolved quite plausibly with a threesome. The chemistry among Garofalo, Chaplin, and Thurman is strong enough, and a ménage à trois might actually work better than what this movie offers, which is a dubious lesson about how when you get to know and like someone, they can become much more attractive. Even more dubious is that the women deceive Brian for far too long. Yes, he seems a bit thick to not catch on, but it's an unfair situation to put him in.
That said, there are some great scenes, among them the non-explicit phone sex and the "free radicals in my regime" beauty counter encounter and its follow-up ("If I were a guy, I'd fuck you," "I know you would, Sweetie"). Since I'm a cat-person, I like seeing Abby with her cat, and the dog is cute, even if the roller-skating is a bit much. Also, it's a very '90s movie, almost modern (especially in its body-image subject matter), but still before the widespread use of the Internet and cell phones, which would've impacted the plot in various ways. Definitely a must-see for Garofalo fans, since she's very sarcastic yet vulnerable here, in a different way than in her scene-stealing role in the next year's Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion.
One of the Newcast Auditioners, Linda Porter, would be Mrs. Crabbleman in Dude, Where's My Car?
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