Subject: Review: "The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love"
From: [email-masked] (Wendy E. Betts)
Date: 4 Jul 1995 07:58:52 GMT

"The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love"
written and directed by Maria Maggenti
starring Laurel Hollomon and Nicole Parker

reviewed by Wendy E. Betts

As sweet and refreshing as a frosty glass of lemonade, this is a
lovely little movie that leaves the heart both warmed and aching.
It's a tender, very funny, utterly sincere look at first love for two
teenagers who seem to have nothing in common--except that they're both
girls.   Randy, who lives with her aunt in a poor but happy lesbian
household, is a social outcast, failing in school; Evie is rich,
intellectual and popular.  The fact that Randy is white and Evie is
black is the least of their problems.  

The inevitable culture conflicts that arise when Randy and Evie fall
in love are played largely for laughs, as when Evie comes out to her
utterly vapid friends, who advise her to try and rent that movie about
the two girls who went to the prom, and a marvelous slapstick scene in
which the two girls are caught in bed by Evie's mother, who's far more
freaked out about the mess they made of her house than about her
daughter having sex.  But the often broad humor takes nothing away
from what the story is really about: falling in love. The typical
cliches of first love are shown here with such warmth and charm that
they seem newly fresh and unique--just as they do in real life when
people fall in love.  The girls playing Randy and Evie were so
believable that I felt a little embarrassed during a tender scene in
which they make love for the first time; although respectfully and
fairly modestly filmed, it seemed too personal for a stranger to be
watching.  

Both comic and romantic, naturally "The Incredibly True Adventures..."
is a "feel-good" kind of movie, an accolade it deserves far more than
many slicker, more professional films.  But although Evie and Randy's
problems as a lesbian couple are treated lightly, they're an
undercurrent that can never be totally disregarded.  The ending of the
film doesn't offer a perfect resolution, but poignantly symbolizes
both the difficulty any mismatched lovers have of shutting out the
censorious voices of the world, and the fact that it is still worth
trying.
-- 
Wendy E. Betts, Editor "The WEB: Celebrating Children's Literature"
finger [email-masked]; http://www.armory.com/~web/web.html
"Susan hated Literature.  She'd much prefer to read a good book."
				-Terry Pratchett, _Soul Music_