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Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)

tomatometer

84

Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 116
Fresh: 98 | Rotten: 18

A trite but refreshing and comical spin on nature of love.

90

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 3

A trite but refreshing and comical spin on nature of love.

audience

60

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 15,483

My Rating

Movie Info

A woman searching for the perfect man instead discovers the perfect woman in this romantic comedy. Jessica Stein (Jennifer Westfeldt) is a woman with a solid career as a copy editor, but her love life isn't much to write home about; she's been through a long series of disastrous first dates that refuse to evolve into second dates, and the well-intended advice of her best friend Joan (Jackie Hoffman) and former boyfriend Josh (Scott Cohen) isn't helping a bit. One day, Jessica is scanning

R, 1 hr. 34 min.

Comedy, Romance

Heather Juergensen, Jennifer Westfeldt

Sep 17, 2002

$7.0M

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Cast

All Critics (119) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (102) | Rotten (19) | DVD (20)

The cast is wonderful and the story is commendably free of the sectarian us-versus-them tone of many romantic gay movies.

February 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Director Charles Herman-Wurmfeld's movie knows what it wants, what its limits are, and delivers its delights accordingly.

August 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Newsweek | Comment
Newsweek
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Pure pleasure.

July 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Westfeldt and Juergensen are both appealing actresses.

July 21, 2005 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | Comment
Houston Chronicle
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Venturesome yet unthreatening, this movie is box-office smart enough to seem cutting-edge without ever drawing blood.

November 5, 2002 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Comment
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The good news for Jessica and the rest of us is that Kissing Jessica Stein delivers that rare combination of winning traits.

July 20, 2002 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Sweet comedy about when a girl meets girl.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Charles Herman-Wurmfeld's comedy remains the best film spawned by "Sex and the City." This sharp-tongued story about emotional curiosity and the politics of passion draws on the words of a dead Austrian poet to muse about modern romance.

September 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

What neither the trailers nor the newspaper features written about Kissing Jessica Stein will have prepared you for is quite how funny it is.

February 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | Comment
Observer [UK]

Westfeldt and Juergensen's wordy script tries for both mainstream and offbeat, but gets lost in between.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Three years of writing, rehearsing, and performing Jessica together helped develop the film organically for Westfeldt and Juergensen.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

Funny, sweet, and intelligent.

September 30, 2005 Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | Comment
Three Movie Buffs

Esta baboseira com pretensões intelectuais possui um roteiro (escrito pelas duas protagonistas) cheio de absurdos e um vocabulário rebuscado que denuncia sua própria arrogância.

July 25, 2003 Comment
Cinema em Cena

An indie romantic comedy that never makes it past first base.

March 10, 2003 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comment
Austin Chronicle

This charming, thought-provoking New York fest of life and love has its rewards.

February 13, 2003 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) | Comment

I'd be interested to see these women star in another movie, but I'm not crossing my fingers that they write another one.

January 10, 2003 Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks | Comment
Nick's Flick Picks

Smart and sassy, Kissing Jessica Stein is a warm and playful romantic comedy where sexuality plays as large a role as any leading character.

November 2, 2002 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Kissing Jessica Stein

Sexuality in film is a very delicate thing. It can either be very offputting and offends the general public and the LGBT community, or it's innovative without being condescending to the audience or just highly unrealistic. This film is full of realism, it's heartfelt and loving with the relationship between two women,

November 5, 2011
FrizzDrop

Super Reviewer

most people would say kissng jessica stein is a lesbian version of annie hall, which is about an intelligent jewish woman's search of love and her multi-faceted viewpoints of life in new york. but to me, it's NOT. honestly, i was not interested in this picture by a look at its poster, which seems like some chic-flick

February 10, 2010
groaningbitch
Veronique Kwak

Super Reviewer

    1. Helen Cooper: What'd you do to be happy?
    2. Jessica Stein: Nothing. I'm not.
    – Submitted by Catherine M (2 months ago)

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