Singles

A group of people in their twenties living in the same building in Seattle. Steve and Linda meet and lose each other, Janet tries to get the attention of Cliff, who is in a band, and everyone talks about relationships straight to camera. Behind them is the Seattle music scene of the moment, and the film records it as it was rather than using it as decor. Cameron Crowe wrote and directed. It was shot in 1991 and released in 1992. The musicians on screen did not know what they were about to become. Crowe put three of the four members of a then-small Seattle band called Pearl Jam into the film, Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, as the members of Citizen Dick, the band fronted by Matt Dillon's character. Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Tad Doyle appear too, along with Chris Cornell. The delay is a story in itself. Warner Bros did not know how to sell it and sat on it for nine months. By Crowe's account the studio finally set a condition: get Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam to play an MTV party they could use to publicise the film and they would release it. When the Seattle sound broke, the film came out. Who it is for: viewers who want the early nineties and the grunge scene first hand. Who it is not for: anyone after a strong story. The film is a run of short scenes and the relationship material is now generally seen as its weakest part.