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Campbell Scott is a relatable everyman trying to navigate a start of a relationship and is the most interesting character to follow. I could see Scott’s character being a film within itself as a matter of fact. Scott plays well off of a young Kyra Sedgwick (I laughed out loud seeing the ball-busting Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson of The Closer as a sweet activist). While Scott’s career never really evolved, Sedgwick lucked out with the aforementioned hit TNT cop procedural. Now Sedgwick splits her time between acting and attending every award show under the sun that has a “Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama” category.

Paul Giamatti also is fun to spot out in one of his first credited roles as a man making out in a coffee bar, saying only one word (I won’t spoil for you what it is).

Completed in early 1991, the film about Seattle twenty-somethings proved to be a marketing conundrum for Warner Bros. Luckily, the grunge music phenomenon swept the nation and the studio pegged the film in for a September 18, 1992 release. Debuting in third place over the crowded weekend, Singles opened with an okay $4.2 million. Fun fact: Fonda’s Single White Female (aka the film The Roommate copied) was in seventh place. With good word-of-mouth and critical reception (I was surprised to see the film rank at 80% on Rottentomatoes.com), Singles played its way to the tune of $18.5 million ($35.7 million adjusted); assumingly profitable for a film that probably spent more for coffee beans than its cast.

Singles' soundtrack, though, was perhaps more successful than the film itself. Released almost three months before the film was released, the soundtrack was a best-seller, featuring some of the biggest grunge acts of the time, like Pearl Jam (who make cameos in the film), the Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains.

A safe bet that the film reaped some profit for Warner Bros studios was the immediate attempt by the television division to make it into a series – a good idea given the chronicling nature of the film. However, Crowe quickly shot the idea down, but rarely does the creator’s refusal mean the death of a project in Hollywood. Retooled with a new location, writers, and directors, Warner Bros Television changed the name to...Friends! Debuting on NBC in 1994, Friends would have an illustrious decade-long run on the network now flailing for ratings a third of what the least viewed Friends episode received.

A safe rental, but not much more, Singles is a good attempt that never goes beyond the call of duty. Crowe, still working on his craft, would explode only four years later with Jerry Maguire, while in the meantime the grunge era of music would have immensely faded by then like today’s Beanie Babies and hopefully tomorrow’s ridiculous silly bands.

Nothing special, but nothing terrible, Singles is met with about as much indifference as its pacing. Neither here nor there, Singles could be matched with a shrug.

Verdict: Not with us

6 out of 10

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