Review of Single White Female (1992) by Adam R — 01 Jul 2016

This film desperately wants to be a Roman Polanski psychological thriller, but ends up coming across as a Lifetime Channel thriller, albeit a slickly made one. Bridget Fonda plays a 1990s New York career gal who breaks up with her cheating boyfriend, Steven Weber.

She puts out an ad for a new roommate and gets Jennifer Jason Leigh, who has all sorts of red flags that she's crazy and yet somehow no one seems to do anything to get rid of her. Leigh becomes obsessed with Fonda and slowly tries to become her, wearing her clothes, taking her hairstyle, to the point of trying to share her boyfriend's bed.

Director Barbet Schroeder is certainly capable of making a smart film (i.e. "Reversal of Fortune" or "Barfly"), so I think I'll lay blame on the script by Don Roos, which seems implausible, corny and predictable.

It's a bad script that's surrounded by some superb talent. Some of that talent includes one of my all-time favorite character actors, Stephen Tobolowsky, as a creepy sexually harassing boss. There's a fine score by Howard Shore, and the film was shot by Luciano Tovoli, who also photographed the amazing "Suspiria" and "Tenebrae.

" Not believable, not suspenseful (until maybe the end), but it's slickly made and kind of pretty to look at.