Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- MadonnaSusan
- Rosanna ArquetteRoberta Glass
- Aidan QuinnDez
- Mark BlumGary Glass
- Robert JoyJim
- Laurie MetcalfLeslie Glass
- Anna ThomsonCrystal
- Will PattonWayne Nolan
- Steven WrightLarry Stillman D.D.S.
- John TurturroRay
Recommendations
- 100
Empire
A whimsical but optimistic tale of mistaken identity, it starred the Material Girl as the cheekily irresistible Susan, and turned Rosanna Arquette (repressed housewife Roberta) into a star. - 80
The New York Times
Desperately Seeking Susan, based on a good screenplay by a new writer named Leora Barish, is a terrifically genial New York City farce in which the lives of two very different young women become tangled in an Orlon web of lies, half-truths and cross purposes. Full of funny, sharply observed details, reflected in Santo Loquasto's witty production design as well as in all of the dozens of individual performances. The cast is virtually a Players Guide to the variety of performing talent available in New York. - 80
Los Angeles Times
Desperately Seeking Susan is a lark, an exhilarating celebration of people who have the good sense to be in touch with themselves and with each other. - 80
Time Out London
Seidelman brings a hip '80s SoHo sensibility to this emancipated screwball comedy, even if the plotting (a mistaken identity farce involving that old chestnut, amnesia brought on by a bump to the head) is square as a square peg. Madonna has never found a better fit than the role of Susan, a thrift-store free spirit - and even then Arquette gives as good as she gets with a deliciously kooky comic turn. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Desperately Seeking Susan does not move with the self-confidence that its complicated plot requires. But it has its moments, and many of them involve the different kinds of special appeal that Arquette and Madonna are able to generate. They are very particular individuals, and in a dizzying plot they somehow succeed in creating specific, interesting characters. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
This is one of the most charming low-budget films in years, a freewheeling, light-hearted farce that gives some new twists to old plot devices. - 75
Chicago Tribune
It's a highly implausible story, but one that's told with engaging, often witty style, enhanced by the film's offbeat settings and situations and the charm of its cast. [29 Mar 1985, p.E] - 70
Chicago Reader
The film acquires a pleasant, syncopated rhythm as it bounces from one unlikely event to another, and Seidelman manages some nice detailing in the minor characters. Arquette is consistently charming and inventive in a role that barely exists as written, and Madonna is given ample opportunity to strut her stuff.
