Single White Female (1992) Full Review

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00:12hey everyone welcome back to another movie review with me beau here on the film scene

00:19investigation channel hope everyone out there is doing good thanks for checking out the video

00:24in today's review i'm going to be taking a look at the 1992 psychological thriller single white

00:35female before we get into the review guys if you haven't already please do consider subscribing

00:41to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated so single white female from 1992

00:49it was directed by the filmmaker barbe schroeder and starred the actress bridget fonda in the lead

00:57role based on the novel by author john lutz this movie became a huge box office success when it

01:07was released in the summer of 1992 actress jennifer jason lee was also cast alongside fonda who played

01:16the character heddy carlson now lee is an actress who i fondly remember from the 1982 movie fast times

01:27at ridgmont high that was a coming of age teen drama that featured a huge ensemble cast of up and

01:36coming

01:37actors yet jennifer jason lee was the standout in that movie so given her talent i uh yeah i was

01:48intrigued to see what she could bring to the table in this movie so in terms of the narrative bridget

01:55fonda played a software designer called allison jones a young woman living her best life in new york city

02:06at the start of the film it's established that allison was in a serious relationship with her fiance sam

02:14who was played by actor stephen webber they seemed like a nice couple clearly madly in love with each

02:22other and obviously looking to marry at some point in the future while things initially seemed fine

02:30things quickly turned sour when allison discovered that sam had slept with his ex-wife not only

02:40had sam betrayed his fiance but it was clear that he had zero intention of ever telling her

02:49it was only by chance that allison found out about the cheating and so once she did she immediately

02:58ended the relationship with sam and yeah who could blame her i mean she'd been lied to by someone that

03:07she thought she could trust and um yeah i personally hate cheaters anyway so yeah good on her for doing

03:14the

03:14right thing allison was rightly upset about the whole betrayal but she decided to push on and not let it

03:24drag her down but as time passed the wounds started to heal yet allison started to feel quite lonely

03:33in this big apartment all by herself so she decided to seek out a roommate so allison decided to place

03:43an ad inside the local newspaper and advertise for a tenancy soon she started interviewing potential

03:51tenants people that were interested in living with her it wasn't long before allison met heddy carlson

03:59this young shy timid woman who was played by actress jennifer jason lee with her friendly approach

04:08and gentle demeanor heddy actually seemed like the perfect candidate the two hit it off and instantly became

04:19friends with allison giving heddy the tenancy i mean at first everything was great i mean heddy had a new

04:28place to stay and allison was no longer lonely they went shopping together they would stay up late and watch

04:37old movies they even ended up getting a puppy labrador and called it buddy for all intents and purposes

04:44this seemed like the perfect friendship but as we know nothing lasts forever and eventually

04:54allison's ex-boyfriend came back on the scene sam wanted allison back he could no longer go on without

05:03her and did his absolute best to try and worm his way back in to allison's life and as all

05:12this was going

05:13down we saw heddy quietly observe the situation to see how everything played out it was clear that heddy

05:22did not like sam after what he had done to allison but she remained neutral to both sides and while

05:31it

05:32went against her better judgment eventually allison gave sam a second chance and took him back i mean

05:41yeah the couple had a history together and both of them didn't want to just throw it all away

05:49but with allison's happiness came heddy's anger now that the couple were reunited and back together

05:58it meant that heddy would eventually need to leave the apartment but it wasn't just the living

06:05arrangements that angered heddy it was the fact that she was basically going to lose her newfound best

06:14friend heddy was happy with the way things were and with sam you know coming back on the scene she

06:22decided to do whatever she could to split the couple apart she would hide sam's letters she would delete

06:32his voice messages i mean heddy did everything she could to create a rift between the two all the while

06:41playing the innocent roommate but all of this was just the start as with the tenancy coming to an end

06:51heddy's behavior became more and more strange i mean at one point we saw heddy actually adopt

07:01allison's haircut in some weird tribute to her which turned out to be probably one of the most

07:07memorable parts of the film allison was clearly upset with heddy for you know stealing her hairstyle

07:16but she kind of played it down and pretended that everything was okay they may have acted like

07:25sisters in the past but with heddy's new hairstyle the two literally looked like sisters with all of this

07:33going on i mean it was clear that heddy

07:36wasn't this shy innocent girl that she portrayed in fact she was quite the opposite

07:45things continued to escalate further and further with allison finally coming to the realization

07:52that her roommate heddy carson was actually a serious threat the film culminated with allison being

08:01taken hostage after heddy had finally snapped heddy's abnormal fixation on allison had boiled over into

08:12sheer madness which also led her to kill allison's ex-boyfriend sam in his hotel room i mean to put

08:21it

08:21bluntly she was a psycho and she showed zero remorse for her actions now when it comes to the acting

08:31in this movie honestly i thought there were no bad performances from bridget fonda to stephen webber

08:40everyone was great in their respective roles however there was one actress that stole the show

08:47and that was jennifer jason lee she delivered such a strong performance as the crazed roommate who was

08:57fixated on allison we saw her character slowly unravel into this sick and twisted individual about midway

09:08through the movie we saw allison finally discover heddy's actual backstory and how she had a twin

09:17sister who died in a car crash now i was really glad that we got some background into heddy's life

09:27as it added a lot of depth to her character initially seeing heddy go all crazy and stuff you know

09:34you

09:35think that she's just this outright villain looking to destroy everyone but in actuality she was just

09:43simply a mentally scarred woman jennifer jason lee's performance was so compelling i actually found

09:52myself feeling a bit sorry for the heddy character i mean in some ways it could be argued that heddy

10:02was

10:03simply a victim of circumstance now that doesn't justify her murderous actions but it does kind of give us a

10:12better understanding of where the character was just brilliant stuff from jennifer jason lee who

10:20honestly should have been nominated for an academy award based on this performance it was that good

10:26another strong aspect of single white female was its chic stylized aesthetic from the fashions to the

10:38interior design this movie looked absolutely fantastic mixing the incredible set design with the amazing

10:48cinematography of luciano tuvali proved to be the perfect combination tuvali is a true master of his

10:57craft a brilliant cinematographer whose efforts really heightened this movie's quality i also want to

11:06take a moment to mention the character graham knox who was played by actor peter friedman graham was

11:14allison's gay best friend who lived in the same apartment building as her and what i really liked

11:22about peter friedman's performance was that the character's sexuality was toned down in fact if the

11:30character had not confirmed that he was actually gay i'd have never have guessed and that was what

11:38was refreshing to me throughout the years we've seen many gay characters be portrayed as overtly sexual

11:46or camp to the point where it becomes a cliche in single white female friedman delivered an earnest

11:54performance with his character's caring side shining through there was no hidden agenda from the graham

12:03character he was simply a guy there just to support his friend and yeah i found the whole thing very

12:10refreshing now before we get to dislikes i also have to quickly mention my love for the puppy labrador

12:18called buddy as mentioned earlier we saw heddy bring the dog home to live with her and allison

12:25and yeah it was great to see that little bundle of joy ryan around what wasn't so great was the

12:33fact

12:33that the dog was eventually killed off after falling out of allison's apartment the one good thing

12:41is that we actually never saw the dog fall to its death so yeah credit to the filmmakers for the

12:48way they handled that because seeing a dog die on screen yeah that that would have been too much for

12:54me

12:54and so dislikes for single white female from 1992 my biggest dislike for this film would have to be

13:05its predictability now going into this movie i had no idea how the film ended but it was quite clear

13:17that about midway through the film this heady character was eventually going to be stopped

13:23sooner or later just from the way things played out i didn't see heady making some grand escape

13:31and getting away with all her crimes which ultimately she didn't at the very end of the movie

13:38after this altercation we saw allison kill heady and honestly it came to no surprise

13:47things had escalated too far allison had been taken hostage and was forced to get violent

13:56now while everything played out as it did and yeah i was okay with that i really do believe it

14:03would

14:03have been more interesting if you would have had heady somehow some way escape or better yet you could

14:13have had maybe both allison and heady die together i mean i don't know it just needed to be something

14:21more than what we got because as i said it was very you know predictable very paint by numbers it

14:28was

14:28clear that how everything was going heady was gonna get a comeuppance and she did i mean yeah it is

14:36what

14:36it is and it was fine for what it was but i really believe a last minute narrative twist would

14:45have been

14:46a lot more interesting than what we got so ratings for single white female from 1992

14:54i am going to be rating this movie a solid 6.5 out of 10 single white female is your

15:04quintessential

15:0590s thriller that offered a kind of disturbing glimpse into the darker aspects of the human psyche

15:15with the strong visuals and tight direction from filmmaker barbe schroeder honestly if you ask me

15:25single white female is perhaps one of the very best thrillers in the entire genre the movie also

15:35touched upon a broader theme surrounding the pressures to form connections i mean allison didn't need the

15:43money she was okay you know financially yet she decided to invite a you know completely unknown stranger

15:51into her apartment which turned out to be a huge mistake but yeah if anything after watching this movie

15:59it should make you question everyone that you meet because you never know what you're possibly

16:07getting yourself into for those who have seen this movie please let me know your memories in the

16:14comments section below for those who haven't yet seen it it's a recommendation from me i really believe

16:21it's a brilliant piece of 90s cinema that still holds up and well that's all from me today guys i

16:30hope

16:30you've enjoyed this review of this 90s thriller single white female i'll be back next week of course with

16:37another cult movie review don't forget to like and subscribe and of course take care see you soon

17:07so

17:08you

17:09you

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