Desperately Seeking Susan

1985 "Roberta is desperate to be Susan. Susan is wanted by the mob. The mob finds Roberta instead..."
6.1| 1h44m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 29 March 1985 Released
Producted By: Orion Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Roberta is a bored suburban housewife who is fascinated with a woman, Susan, she only knows about by reading messages to and from her in the personals section of the newspaper. This fascination reaches a peak when an ad with the headline "Desperately Seeking Susan" proposes a rendezvous. Roberta goes too, and in a series of events involving amnesia and mistaken identity, steps into Susan's life.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Crime

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Director

Susan Seidelman

Production Companies

Orion Pictures

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Desperately Seeking Susan Audience Reviews

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
roddekker Sure. Back in 1985, when this rather silly Rom-Com was first released - I'm certain that a lot more people cared a whole lot more about Madonna than they do now.And, yes, back then, the viewer might have actually enjoyed this contrived "Chick Flick" immensely. And, if this was the case - They would have, naturally, had to have forgiven Madonna, big-time, for putting in such a pedestrian performance as the "tart-with-the-golden-heart".But, today - 30 years later - Madonna and her predictable screen persona have long ago become passe'. And, with that - I found that her appearance in this somewhat awkward and implausible picture only served to seriously marginalize its story-line rather than elevate it into a cinematic gem that's well-worth remembering.Anyway - You may, very likely, feel different, than I do, about this picture and actually enjoy it from start to finish. And, hey! - That's OK!
SnoopyStyle Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) is a simple housewife who is fascinated with Susan (Madonna). Susan is a free-spirited grifter, and her boyfriend Jim (Robert Joy) puts messages in newspaper personal ads for her. Roberta decides to follow the latest romantic ad to their rendezvous. When Jim leaves for an out of town gig, Roberta starts following Susan around. She buys her jacket in a second hand store, and finds a locker key in it. Little does Roberta know but there's a killer (Will Patton) after Susan for a pair of valuable earrings. Jim sends his friend Dez (Aidan Quinn) to look after Susan. When Roberta hits her head, she gets amnesia. Dez doesn't really know what Susan looks like and assumes Roberta is Susan.It's a fun 80s movie and Madonna isn't asked to do too much acting. She is basically herself as the street smart NYer, and she's great at it. That's why this movie is kinda fun. Rosanna Arquette was a relative unknown back then. She's not really a housewife type but her character needs to have a passing resemblance to Madonna. It's also great to see all the NY locations from the 80s.It takes awhile to set up the rom-com with Arquette and Aidan Quinn. Roberta is suffering from amnesia and she can't really commit to the rom-com. Aidan Quinn is too nice of a guy. Together they form a rather bland couple. Madonna is still the more fun part of the movie. There could be more Madonna music. It has her big hit song 'Into the Groove'. Somebody should have told director Susan Seidelman that wall-to-wall Madonna music could have livened up the movie. As a comedy, it has its moments. There are no comedians in the main cast. The funniest line has to be "How do you use the birds?"
nikita76 This was THE defining movie of my coming-to-teenage years. I saw a rerun on TV the other night and I still knew all the lines by heart. Thank God for this little gem of a movie, in all its silliness. It takes me back to a time when everything was still possible, and I thought I knew everything although I really knew nothing. Well, now that I know, not everything but a great deal, I still find this movie really likable. It's strange that it's so old, and it still feels quite fresh and exciting. Maybe it's the New York atmosphere, or the sense of excitement that Madonna brings to every one of her scenes. I think she's good in this film because she doesn't yet take herself too seriously and isn't trying too hard. She is a natural performer, after all. How else could you solve the mystery of "the one good movie Madonna ever made"?
Richard Burin Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Seidelman, 1985) is an appealing, unconventional film about a shy, put-upon young married woman (Rosanna Arquette) who swaps places with a free-spirited man-eater (Madonna) after a bump on the head. A dated dramatic device, perhaps, but it's such a sweet, sassy and otherwise well-plotted affair we'll let it slide. The film inhabits a similar universe - and employs the same neon aesthetic - as Scorsese's ever-underrated comedy After Hours, but this is an altogether gentler affair. Sure it plunges its heroine into a seedy world dominated by shady, peroxide hit men and amorous conjurors, but it's in many ways preferable to the yuppie nightmare she's been living with all-time idiot-hole Mark Blum. At least here she's got love on her side, courtesy of kind-hearted Aidan Quinn (the psychotic drug-addled baddie in the Richard Dreyfuss-Emilio Estevez buddy movie Stakeout). Arquette, who played the lead in the classic John Sayles romcom Baby, It's You, is perfect as the doormat desperately seeking excitement, and while Madonna isn't a great actress, she's both hugely charismatic and ideally cast as the manipulative, posing, sex-obsessed Susan. Also look out for John Turturro in an early role as a nightclub compere. A little gem from out of left-field, this one, with an engaging storyline, memorable characters and a disarmingly peculiar sense of humour.Trivia note: The new Madonna song on the soundtrack is Into the Groove. Not one of her best singles of the period, but still pretty damn decent.