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Singles is an ensemble comedy set in Seattle in the early 1990's. Steve Dunne meets Linda Powell at a club, and they hit it off. The ups and downs of their relationship are contrasted with those of Steve's friend (and ex-girlfriend) Janet Livermore, who is increasingly frustrated with how aloof her boyfriend, lead of proto-grunge band named "Citizen Dick" Cliff Poncier, acts towards her. With some running threads about other friends, it shows the ups and downs of relationships for Generation X in the pre-dot-com era. It's very much an Unintentional Period Piece and love letter to both Seattle and the early alternative rock/grunge scene, written and directed by Cameron Crowe.
This film has examples of: - A-Cup Angst: Janet, especially after Cliff admits that he sometimes fantasizes about women with larger breasts when they have sex. Ultimately put to rest by the surgeon she consulted about implants.
- Author Appeal: All the music and its prominent place in the film.
- Beard of Sorrow: Steve, after failing to get back together with Linda and after his "Supertrain" idea gets turned down flat (which possibly led to his leaving of work; the movie only suggests that he left his job afterwards).
- Better as Friends: Steve and Janet, by mutual agreement.
- Brick Joke: Cliff is telling the story of the guy Debbie has finally hooked up with while delivering her flowers from him. After he delivers them, he mentions he has to sneak into Debbie's apartment and spell her name out in rose petals. He then looks up and sees Janet, who's broken up with him but whom he still pines for. A few scenes later, Janet comes home to find Cliff has spelled out a message for her in rose petals. Doubles as an Ironic Echo.
- The Cameo: Basketball player Xavier McDaniels, in what may be the movie's most hilarious line. Also cameos from various grunge personalities, including all the members of Pearl Jam, Chris Cornell, Tad Doyle and Bruce Pavitt.
- The Casanova: The foreign exchange student Linda dates early in the movie.
- Chekhov's Gun: Well, sneeze, anyway.
- Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Debbie finally finding someone right for her minutes before the ending.
- Cult Soundtrack: Just ask anyone who went to college in the early 90s.
- Dating Service Disaster: Discussed, but Debbie avoids any of the obvious examples and goes for the guy who seems nice enough.
- Diabolus ex Machina: The car accident that causes Linda's miscarrage.
- Hey, It's That Guy!:
- Jeremy Piven plays the clerk at the drugstore that Steve stops by at one point. Also, Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, and Stone Gossard all play themselves as Cliff's bandmembers. Finally, Bill Pullman as the plastic surgeon that Janet visits.
- Chris Cornell showing up to watch Cliff's car stereo misadventure, and Tim Burton as the director of Debbie's dating video.
- Debbie ends up with Victor Garber, of Alias and Titanic fame, and her roommate is Ally Walker from Profiler.
- Hospital Hottie: Dr. Jamison might be in private practice rather than at a hospital, but Janet does note that he has plenty of attractive points.
- Humiliation Conga: Steve gets denied the chance to work on his dream project, loses his job, his girlfriend, his potential child, and his office cubicle collapses around him.
- Last Minute Hookup: Cliff and Janet getting back together.
- Love Epiphany: Played with throughout the movie. Janet has an inverted one when she realizes that Cliff is so self-absorbed that he won't even say "Bless you" when she sneezes. After their breakup, Cliff realizes how much he does love her and tries to get her back. The final scene is when they happen to meet in an elevator, and this time he does say "Bless you" when she sneezes.
- Must Have Caffeine: Janet works at a coffee shop, and the entire circle of friends regularly hangs out there, with everyone regularly having another cup.
- Recycled: The Series: Ultimately averted, as Crowe felt that turning Singles into a series was a poor idea. The production company decided, rather than giving up on the notion, to retool the concept and gave the central characters tweaked personalities, altered some of the interpersonal relationships, transplanted the show to New York City, and changed the name to Friends.
- Sampling/Expy: The opening theme and the ending theme to the movie are technically two different songs. However, the difference between "Dyslexic Heart" and "Waiting For Somebody" is purely which lyrics Paul Westerberg is singing; they share the exact same instrumentation. The vocals are even in the same key; one could switch between singing them without a problem.
- Second Act Break Up: Happens to Steve and Linda after she gets back from her research cruise, and to Cliff and Janet after she breaks off the relationship due to his lack of attentiveness.
- Shotgun Wedding: Steve proposes when it's discovered that he's gotten Linda pregnant; it's called off after the miscarrage.
- Unintentional Period Piece: Counting the ways:
- Grunge and alt-rock is everywhere.
- Flannel is practically a dress code requirement (although somewhat Truth in Television in Seattle to this day).
- The dating service that Debbie uses involves VHS tapes instead of any variety of video disc or the Internet.
- Reference is made to building airplanes, as Boeing used to be by far the largest employer in the Seattle area (Boeing since has left the area; tech companies such as Nintendo, Microsoft, and Amazon are the local heavyweights now).
- Steve's friend David storing phone numbers on his watch, as opposed to a cell phone.
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