A rebellious teenage girl (Leilee Sobieski) who dresses in gothic garb and wears harsh metal jewelry in the piercings that cover her face, finds a friend in a conservative middle-aged man (Albert Brooks) working in a men's clothing store. While the pair initially seem like total opposites, they soon learn that have a lot in common and can really relate to each other.
Using a first-person narrative that is reminiscent of Wynona Ryder's unhappy teenagers in HEATHERS and GIRL INTERRUPTED, this film gives its full, uninterrupted attention to the cryptic mutterings of its protagonist, Jennifer (Sobieski). She has a vivid imagination and the ability to see the worst in everything. Her English teacher is evil and has fangs, her classmates are buxom bimbos who have recently undergone nose jobs, and her wierd mother (when not talking about the benefits of women eating blood in the form of brisket for dinner) has friends that are fatter than elephants. Jennifer's visions are illustrated by distorted camera angles that make comedy of her exaggerations. But when Jennifer meets Randall (Brooks), a boring and equally pessimistic guy, her perspective changes. She wants him to accept her. And when he reaches out to her, she accepts him. MY FIRST MISTER therefore becomes a sweet story about friendship, self-motivation, and changing your life for the better.
(34 votes)
2.
Meet The New Odd Couple
Jennifer (LeeLee Sobieski) is a 17-year-old Goth with multiple face-piercings and a fondness for graveyards. Randall (Albert Brooks) is a middle-aged salesman with an obsessively tidy life and a fear of anything new. When these two opposites collide, the chain reaction sparks a life-altering meltdown for them both in this wickedly perceptive, critically acclaimed comedy from Academy Award-winning director and actress Christine Lahti.
Desperate to escape the world of her infuriatingly cheery mother (Carol Kane) and mindless bimbo classmates, punk-rebel Jennifer impulsively applies for a job at Randall's decidedly conservative clothing store. Soon, to their mutual shock and surprise, an unlikely friendship blooms. But even as Randall attempts to show Jennifer the possibilities of her own future, Jennifer discovers the extraordinary secret haunting Randall's past. A wry, hilarious, powerfully emotional story of reaching out, making contact, and coping with the consequences, My First Mister is an unforgettable film Leonard Maltin applauds as "Wonderful and unpredictable!"
(30 votes)
3.
Jennifer (Leelee Sobieski) is seventeen, just graduated from high school in a ceremony she made certain not to attend. With her multiple piercings, all-black wardrobe and frequent cemetery visits, Jennifer works hard to keep the world at a distance. She has devised her own individual goth/punk disguise to protect the lonely girl inside. Yet her cynicism is only skin deep, masking a deep sense that she is not worth loving. Fascinated with death because she is afraid of life, Jennifer is more innocent and more in need than she would ever dare let on.
With all her rebel street girl pose, Jennifer still lives at home, engaged in constant battle with her chirpy musical-comedy obsessed mother Sylvie (Carol Kane). Scarred by divorce and scared of the changes her daughter is undergoing, Sylvie relies on near-terminal optimism as a defense mechanism. Jennifer's hippie dad Ben (John Goodman) moved out a long time ago and steers clear of any real involvement in his daughter's life. A sense of humor is Jennifer's saving grace, demonstrated in the self-deprecating sharpness of her journals. ("My clothes are not all black. Some of them are blue. Sometimes I wear them together so I look like a bruise.")
Randall (Albert Brooks) stands in complete contrast -- a precise, well-ordered man of forty-nine who runs a conservative men's clothing store in an upscale shopping mall. Randall keeps everything under control. He lives alone. A magazine subscription is about the biggest personal commitment he will venture to make. He is unfailingly polite and carefully tailored -- a "nice man" to the core. Yet underneath all the protective coloring of middle class comfort, Randall is deeply afraid, nursing secret regrets about the past and hidden terror of the future. His loneliness is awesome.
Each of them long-term prisoners of their own highly developed emotional armor, this wildly dissimilar pair should never meet, never connect at all. Yet one day, after initially rejecting her job application, Randall observes that Jennifer is still sullenly planted in front of his shop window.
(23 votes)
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