Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7679 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-08-15
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, German, French, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Polish, Dutch, Finnish
• Dubbed in: German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 119 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This likeable, feminist screwball comedy about several incidents of mistaken identity is remembered more as the film that made Madonna a movie star. She's flip, hip and energetic as Susan, the wild tramp with whom bored, suburban New Jersey housewife Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) becomes obsessed after reading of her sexual conquests in the personal ads. Of course, since Madonna essentially played herself, the role's hardly a stretch.

Director Susan Seidelmen presents a series of zany incidents too complicated to recount, but the result is that Roberta swaps lifestyles with her fixation to explore New Wave culture on New York's Lower East Side. It's territory Seidelmen knew well as her more offbeat, indie debut, Smithereens, revelled in the same setting. But where Smithereens took a more edgy approach to its characters, Susan is a fairy tale romantic comedy, and eventually becomes as conventional as the suburban characters it mocks by settling conflicts with predictable Hollywood formulae. Still, there's much to be enjoyed. The film's at its funniest when juxtaposing New York hip and New Jersey suburbia, like when Arquette's straight, suit-and-tie husband dances with Madonna in a punk club. The performances, too, are engaging, especially Arquette and Aidan Quinn, playing a romantic film projectionist who becomes her grubby Prince Charming. --Dave McCoy, Amazon.com --This text refers to the VHS edition of this video

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
French\German
English\German
English
Region 2
Mono English French German
Mono
Interactive Menu
Theatrical Trailer
Chapter Access
Alternative Ending
Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\French\German\Norwegian\Polish\Portuguese\Swedish

Synopsis
Arquette is Roberta Glass, a bored New Jersey yuppie housewife who finds escapism from her mundane life in the New York personal ad exploits of a flighty bohemian named Susan (Madonna). When Roberta travels to the city to witness an ad-inspired meeting between Susan and her lover Jimmy, she bumps her head, loses her memory, and for all intensive purposes, becomes Susan, thanks to a case of mistaken identity. As a result, she is pursued by crooks and other shady characters through the funky East Village of the early 1980s. Quinn is the confused film protectionist who stumbles into the role of Roberta/Susan's protector. Madonna, not quite a superstar when this was filmed, uses this small role to show the sort of charisma she would soon shower upon the world in larger doses. Steven Wright, Giancarlo Esposito, Richard Hell, Ann Magnuson, John Lurie and Arto Lindsay also turn up in small roles in this fun, screwball 80s love letter to the downtown scene.

Customer Reviews

Madonna at her best
This film is an unrecognised classic. Madonnas' best acting ever. The film follows a under appreachiated and unfullfilled house wife who discovers a message in a paper which changes her life completey in a mixup of whos who where she ends up in a different situation, forgetting who she actually is. The suttle Madonna music and the nostalgic 1980's 'no big computer effects just great acting' just add a greater depth to this film, watch it, buy it, watch it again.

Madonna does what Madonna does best - 'Madonna!
A fun and kooky mid eighties yarn. Great music, great acting and likeable characters. It is easy to forget that Madonna is NOT the only actor in the film! Both Rosanna Arquette and Aidan Quinn are also excellent. Of course, this is an historic movie - it was released at the height of Madonnas fame, and is generally recognised as her best movie. (This is not necessarily the case - Evita, A League of Their Own) A fun film, and with the previousl yunheard of alternate ending, a must for old and new fans alike! So Get Into The Groove, and enjoy!

"Desperately seeking Susan. Meet me, four o'clock, Battery Park. Keep the faith. Love, Jim.",
Though the story line has been done so many times it's a great film. I'd seen this several times as a teenager and still think of it the same way. This movie really has less to do with Madonna and more to do with Rosanna Arquette.

It's hard to imagine anybody not coming across this film but if you haven't it starts out with Roseanna Arquette who plays Roberta Glass, a bored New Jersey housewife, who constantly follows the on-going relationship of Jim and Susan. One day, Roberta decides that she would really like to meet Susan, so she places an add in the paper, telling Susan to meet Roberta at Battery Park in New York City. Susan (played by Madonna) shows up, but is arrested because of cab fair. Roberta is being harassed by some lunatic. After a bump on the head and a bout of amnesia, turns Roberta into Susan. Susan's boyfriend Jim (played by Robert Joy) asks his best friend Dez (played by Aiden Quinn) finds Roberta, but thinks she is Susan. The two become lovers.

It's not all that great of a storyline, but the characters are charming enough and the music, of course, is '80's perfect. This film captures perhaps better than any other New York & general American pop culture of the early-to-mid-1980s. Madonna is at her best/(worst?) here, and we get a full helping of the clothes, hair, quirky characters, and great pop music of the era. The supporting actors are great, including Laurie Metcalf as Roberta's uptight sister-in-law and John Turturro as a sleazy night club host. The acting is understated and not over the top- including Madonna, who just seemed to be reading her lines very carefully, but to good effect. Susan Seidelman did an excellent job at directing, too bad she has not done much more! The settings are used to great effect as well, giving you a taste of the exciting East Village and it's suburban opposite Fort Lee, NJ.

This great 80's flick will include running audio commentary by the director as well as deleted scenes and an alternate ending, which to me wasn't all that great. Keep your expectations low and you'll have a good time with this one.