Thoughts on Desperately Seeking Susan

via allaboutmadonna.com

"This is like a déjà vu."

"How can you have a déjà vu if you don't remember anything?"

"No, no. I mean ... this is all déjà vu."

How times change. Thirty-five years ago, Madonna relaxed fully-clothed in an empty bathtub, the height of bohemian chic. This week, she made a fool of herself musing about coronavirus while sitting awkwardly in her full tub. Back then, the character of Susan shared a joint with suburbanite Gary (Mark Blum). On Thursday, March 26, Blum was announced as having died from COVID-19.

That same day, Vulture published an interview with Rosanna Arquette. Granted, she was being asked about Desperately Seeking Susan specifically, but I felt like her pride for the movie, the characters of Roberta and Susan of especially working on a movie about and led by women is sincere.

"It felt (groundbreaking) then, too. It was cool. I don't think we understood the impact, but it did feel good. Hollywood wasn't evolved enough to understand it and get it. Now, it really means something."

Speaking of then and now, I've often felt Madonna is someone I wish I would have experienced from the get-go. I got my first impressions of her during the Bedtime Stories-Something to Remember era.

"I'll Remember" ... "Take a Bow" ... "Human Nature" ... "You'll See" ... I didn't really understand these songs as a boy, but I knew I liked them and I knew I liked Madonna. Around this time, I watched Dick Tracy on TV. It's not that great of a performance, but it has stuck with me. With hindsight, I now know I got a pretty good exposure to Madonna's range at the start of my fandom.

Yeah, I'm a fan. It wouldn't surprise me if Madonna had at least one more comeback in her. But if we're being totally honest, it's been about 20 years since one of her songs really wowed me. Maybe if I had been there from the start or closer, Madonna would be a ride or die artist for me.

*obligatory speaking my peace about Madonna concluded*

"There she is."

"Where?"

"Right there, talking to the cigarette girl."

"That's not Susan. I've never even seen that girl before."

"Dez, that's Susan. Don't you think I should know?

"That might be a Susan, but that's not my Susan."

"That's my Susan!"

I won't deny Susan its place in the pop culture canon. At the same time, I think it is too low-key for its own good as a piece of commercial entertainment. It isn't much of a farce. In fits and starts, it's a character-driven comedy. Once it a while, it attempts to be a thriller.

Written by Leora Barish and directed by Susan Seidelman, the movie captures a bygone era of Manhattan, an island big enough to be playground for lonely housewife Roberta (Arquette) and former waitress, current mystery woman Susan (Madonna). Rosanna observed how Susan and After Hours "were filmed in places that no longer exist." I'm comparing these to Girls Just Want to Have Fun, which had issues including an anything goes attitude with its setting.

Roberta, unsatisfied in her marriage with "Spa King of New Jersey" Gary (Blum), lives vicariously through the courtship of Susan and her musician boyfriend Jimmy (Robert Joy). Circumstances, including Roberta winding up with Susan's unique, pyramid motif jacket, the personal items Susan forgot to take out of its pocket and finally amnesia, result in people thinking they're dealing with the real Susan. On the plus side, there's Jimmy's newly-single projectionist friend Dez (Aidan Quinn). On the minus side, there's murderous thief Nolan (Will Patton), who's after a pair of Nefertiti's earrings.

"No more dead bodies, okay?"
"I'll see what I can do."

Anyway, Dez falls for Roberta, thinking she's Susan. Roberta is being terrorized by Nolan, which results in her memory returning. Jimmy is suspicious of Susan's fidelity. Crystal (Anna Levine), Susan's magician's assistant friend, gets fired just a few moments before "Susan" seeks employment. The real Susan sorta befriends Gary. Gary's sister, Leslie (Laurie Metcalf, who steals the movie) fills his head with lurid possibilities of Roberta having a double life and is generally unhelpful. But she does make a cute couple with Gary's dentist, Larry (Steven Wright).

There's nothing wrong with Desperately Seeking Susan that couldn't be fixed by a tighter script. The story is sound, even if Nolan never comes off as threatening as he could be. I liked the relationships between Susan & Jimmy and Ramona & Dez. I could believe they all ended up happily ever after, whether in Manhattan or Fort Lee, New Jersey. Arquette would likely be disappointed in me.

"The original ending was they they didn't go off with the guys -- they go off together on an adventure, and you see them on camels in the desert, in the Sahara. Without the guys. I think that ending is such a better ending and I wish they would have kept it. Especially nowadays! That's what Roberta was trying to get away from -- the stereotype. It wasn't happily every after in the original script. I fell in love with that idea and I was very disappointed when they cut that out."

Arquette and Madonna are both really appealing in Susan. I'd actually give my crown to the former. Roberta is simply the more interesting character. Even in the East Village -- or should that be especially in the East Village? -- a have-not trumps a have. Still, Susan scores points for chutzpah.

"Gary, why didn't you tell me she read the personals? I could have settled this yesterday."

"She read them all the time. I didn't think ..."
"Yeah, well, fortunately for everybody, I'm here and I'm thinking. Give me the car keys. I'll bring it right back. ... Hiya."
"Gary! She is taking the car keys!"
"Shut up, Leslie, okay?"
"Diary. ... That little sneak, what did she say about me?"

Recommended with reservations.

Thoughts:

-- "Hey, is anybody out there from a -- from Queens? ... You. Well, I'm from normal parents myself."

-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $27.4 million on a $4.5 million budget, this opened wide at No. 6 and came in at No. 31 for 1985.

-- Awards Watch: Arquette was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical (losing to Kathleen Turner for Prizzi's Honor) and won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress (over, among others, Anjelica Huston for Prizzi's Honor).
-- More highlights from the Vulture piece: "I see her from afar, like everyone," Rosanna said about her current relationship with Madonna. She also noted that despite being a studio production, Susan "had the indie film spirit on the set." Regarding Seidelman: "Her thing was really about the look of the film. ... If she didn't like something, she'd basically say she didn't like it." I sure hope Peter Gabriel's daughters one day find the pyramid jacket. "It was so original and interesting."

-- Critic's Corner, the film: "The plot isn't the point, anyway; once you realize the movie is going to be a series of double-reverses, you relax and let them happen," Roger Ebert wrote. "The plot is so unpredictable that, in a way, it's predictable; that makes it the weakest part of the movie."

-- Critic's Corner, the leading ladies: "Charming (and) very funny," Vincent Canby wrote. Ebert: "They somehow succeed in creating specific, interesting characters." Kirk Ellis, The Hollywood Reporter, liked Rosanna, saying she's "always a pleasure to watch ... here the perfect ingenue." David Denby, on the other hand, thought Madonna provided the most interest. "She's so demanding of your adoration that you would have to be a perfect bear to resist."

-- Critic's Corner, the finale: Canby: "(There's never) that single, explosively funny, climactic confrontation in which all of the characters would converge for sudden recognition." Ellis found the ending lively, comparing it favorably to "one of the great Marx Bros. destruction derbies."
-- Memorable Music: The score's 12-11 in favor of songs original to movies. At exactly one hour in, "Into the Groove" plays when Gary meets Susan at Danceteria. Had it been eligible, I'm positive it would have landed within the Billboard Top Five sometime in the summer of 1985.

-- Fanservice Junction: Quinn is more handsome overall, but Joy had the nicer legs. In the ladies division, we have Susan's semitransparent bra and Dez checking out Roberta's boobs from a distance.
-- Hey, It's 2020!: Among recent depressing news is that the Metcalf-led revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won't open on Broadway. Something I just realized: the leading man is another former Madonna co-star, Rupert Everett.

-- Hey, It's ...!: John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Annie Golden, Ann Magnuson, John Lurie, Shirley Stoler, Charles Scorsese and Eddy Galland, David Kellman & Robert Shafran. According to the credits, Carol Leifer and Ilene Kristen are party guests, but I couldn't spot them.

-- "'Desperately Seeking Stranger Seeking Susan. Regarding key. Meet me Saturday night, Magic Club, Broadway, 9:30 p.m. Be there.' Is that it?" "She'll love it." "Pay at the cashier." "Single white male, looking for afternoon playmates." "Is that it? Pay at the cashier."

-- Next: Girls Just Want to Have Fun. On deck: Ladyhawke.