Excellent but underrated film

An Exercise In Nonsense

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This is a wickedly funny portrayal of two self-obsessed celebrities coming into confrontation with 'the little people', as one of them calls them, meaning ordinary people of everyday life. The film was well directed by a mysterious person called William T. Bolson, who never made any other film, and of whom nothing seems to be known, so that I suspect this may have been a pseudonym for someone else, perhaps Adrienne Shelly herself (she did not surface by name as a feature film director until 1996 with SUDDEN MANHATTAN, see my review). Adrienne plays the female lead, a famous movie star named Jenny Dole, and she is thoroughly and mischievously convincing as this psychologically disturbed narcissistic celebrity who likes to sleep only with strangers while dead drunk. She thus genuinely cannot remember with whom she had sex the night before, and that is the way she likes things. The sensation of the film is the hilarious portrayal of a male rock star named Todd Warren by the Australian actor, singer, and comedian Scott McNeil. His screen credit says 'and introducing', although he had appeared in a great deal of television Down Under for years before this. His performance is beyond outrageous, but despite this it was impossible for him really to go 'over the top', since his character could not be portrayed in any other way. McNeil did his own singing and was not dubbed, so his talents are truly remarkable. He succeeded in pulling off a mammoth task of caricature convincingly, and must have had much fun in doing so. I don't know how the cast and crew managed to control themselves from collapsing into helpless laughter the whole time while making this extreme satire. Perhaps they did. I wish I had been there. And by 'there' I mean a tiny coastal town on the southwest of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, named Sooke (population 13,000). The film was made entirely on location there, although it is never identified in the story. Sooke is just over the border and separated by a body of water from Seattle, just west of Victoria. Only one of the lead actors in the film was Canadian, the actress Kymberley Huffman (now just called Kim). She is very lively and attractive, with her sparkly blue eyes and open manner, but she plays a devious, selfish, treacherous girl who is engaged to one man whose business she is simultaneously trying to destroy while sleeping with his enemy next door whom she really intends to marry. She hops back and forth between beds through the back stairway of her fiancee's small hotel into her lover's small competitor hotel, which is deemed superior because it has 'a cappuccino machine and jacuzzis'. One day, a stretch limousine drives up and from it emerge Scott McNeill and Adrienne Shelly, exhausted from a mammoth sex session in the back of the car. They are both drunk, and McNeil is evidently permanently stoned on drugs as well, so that he is rarely more than half conscious except when he is singing. Various events ensue which result in their staying first in one of the hotels and then the other. Huffmann's fiancé Daniel is the only honest and honourable main character in the story, so of course he is being systematically betrayed as he struggles with debt and a failing hotel business. The hotel's lights keep getting cut off because he cannot pay the electricity bill, but while he is worrying about survival his fiancée is always slipping next door to have romps in bed with the nasty rival. It becomes important for both hotel owners to try to hang onto their celebrity guests in order to boost their business, with all the associated publicity. So the scheming and to-ing and fro-ing of the guests between hotels is highly comical. Despite the temptation to do so, Adrienne Shelly never over-acts, since one of her great talents was to look at people with just the right expressions at the right times to render superfluous dialogue or any histrionics unnecessary. Daniel is played by the Scottish actor then called Neil Duncan, but who now calls himself Alastair Duncan. He does very well as an honest man caught up in a variety of hopeless dilemmas, and who tries to be decent while all those around him are behaving abominably. This film has a deeper purpose, in that we see the effect that real people begin to have on the celebrity phonies, by slowly humanising them. The haunting sense of despair and self-loathing of the film star Jenny, and the hedonistic oblivion continually sought by the rock star Todd are exposed in all their sleaze and emptiness. Some of the 'real' people are seduced by their glamour, while others are disgusted by it. Where will all of this lead, as the interactions between them intensify? This is a serious film masquerading as a wild and very hilarious satire.

Sleeping With Strangers is one of those cuddle up in bed with a big bowl of popcorn, kinda movies. It's not heavy on the brain and keeps the laughs coming.The film stars Adrienne Shelly as the looking for love in all the wrong places movie star, Jenny, Neil Duncan as super proper bed and breakfast owner, Daniel, Kim Huff as Teri, Daniel's fiancée and secret sweetheart of Daniel's rival, Shawn Thompson as Mark, Daniel's somewhat more modern and rival B&B owner and Scott McNeil, as Todd Warren, The Rock Star.Guys beware; there are places in the movie where it gets a little heavy on the romance. What makes it a cool movie and keeps it from getting too sugary sweet has to be Scott McNeil's Todd Warren. Rock star Todd, pushes the movie right off the cliff.Todd is the essence of the hyperactive; garage band stoner dude-next-door-who got saved by Rock & Roll. His light bulb doesn't shine too bright, but he's got a good heart...somewhere under the hair and through the haze.It was almost scary to watch Scott McNeil channel David Lee Roth, but it was just the right touch. Eye candy for the ladies with a nice set of pipes to boot! Oh yes, most memorable songs, "How Does it Feel" and "Rip My Clothes Off Baby!"This film also had a bunch of Canadian in-jokes, like Daniel's B&B serving macaroni and cheese. There were paparazzi/tabloid jokes and real people vs. star jokes. At one point, one of the star struck characters talks about Jenny, the movie star to her daughter... from two feet away, much in the same manner, as you'd talk about a zoo exhibit.I liked this movie because it was not only fun, but also it ends well too. The characters are allowed to improve...even Todd. Enjoy!

I bought this movie because I like Adrienne Shelly and the synopsis looked interesting. The first time I watched it I was a bit disappointed. I watched it again a couple years later to see if I liked it well enough to keep it and decided I did. The story is pretty light, like the romantic comedies from the '40s and '50s where the leads would meet, dance with each other for two hours and be madly in love and want to get married. The rock star character is a little over the top, but Neil Duncan is quite charming as the down-on-his-luck innkeeper. If you like him, or if you like Adrienne Shelly, you should like this movie. And if you like the Chris Isaak Show, keep an eye out for Jed Rees. I would give it a 5 or 6 out of 10.

I absolutely love this film. Honestly, this is probably my favorite film. The acting is touching, and the scenery is beautiful. Excellent humor, as well as timing, I really like everything about this film.All in all, I recommend this film to everyone who likes humorous films.