Desperate People

Here's an oldy - we might have seen this when it came out: Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). It was a request from Ms. Spenser (though I don't remember why), but I sure didn't mind.

It stars Rosenna Arquette as the quietly bored wife of a successful Connecticut hot tub salesman. One of her outlets is reading the personal ads, and imagining the lives of the lovers who post in them. One she sees every now and then is "Desperately Seeking Susan", signed Jim with the address of a rendezvous.

It also stars Madonna, as a free spirited party girl. We meet her in a hotel room, rifling the belongings of a passed out paramour, snagging a pair of Egyptian earrings. She then heads into New York and posts her own personal ad, replying to Jim. (Easter egg - the personals clerk is No Wave guitarist Arto Lindsay.)

Through a cute set of events, Arquette goes to spy on the meeting, then winds up in Madonna's signature jacket. Jim (a scuzzy looking Robert Joy) has a gig and asks his friend Dez (Aidan Quinn - not scuzzy looking at all) to watch over Susan, who he's never met - he'll recognize her by her jacket. Then Arquette loses her memory.

So Arquette starts living Madonna's life with Quinn thinking she's an untrustworthy maneater. Meanwhile, her husband, his sister, and their dentist (Stephen Wright) are searching for her. Will she go back to her boring but safe life? Will she fall in lover with Quinn? And what about the creepy guy (Richard Hell) who is following her? 

All this is fun, but the movie is also full of New York demimonde semi-stars, like Lindsay, Wright and Richard Hell. Rockets Redglare plays a cabbie. John Lurie plays sax in the apartment across the way, and his co-star from Stranger Than Paradise, Richard Edson, offers Madonna a paper. These and a bunch more I didn't recognize, bring a nice punk energy that supports Madonna beautifully. Makes you think she could almost act. Arquette definitely can act, and is as sweet and yearning as you could want.

Should I watch any other of director Susan Seidelman's movies? Smithereen looks squalid and depressing, and I haven't heard much about any of the others.