Chasing Amy Criterion Collection USA DVD

Holden (Ben Affleck) and Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams) have so much in common. Theyre from the same little suburban area of New Jersey where everybody knows everybody and interesting things are always bound to happen. They belong to the same little rarefied niche profession, that of the comic book artist. It is through a comic book convention that they meet. For Holden, it is love (or at least, attraction) at first sight. He misinterprets Alyssas attention as mutual feelings. Imagine his surprise a few nights later when he discovers she is a lesbian.

Despite the obvious clash of sexual predilections, Alyssa lets Holden down easy. She is very patient and understanding with his initial curiosity with her lifestyle, explaining in eloquent detail why her path is different from his and how she does it. Much of the movies charm comes from these early scenes, from the juxtaposition of our expectations of the interaction between men and women in love, and a man and a women who both love women.

The two become close friends, spending much time together. However, like any typical guy, Holden still cannot move past those initial feelings and the attraction he feels toward Alyssa. In a scene that will go down as one of the greatest expression of a characters feelings in filmdom, Holden reveals to Alyssa his buried feelings that he can no longer contain. Predictably, she explodes. How dare he question her life? How could he possibly think that she would, or could, or should, change? But then, unpredictably, she relents and professes that she feels the same way.

It is at this point that Ill step back from the story. If you look at the movie in the framework of the traditional three-act structure, were probably at the end of the first act. My favorite explanation of the three-act structure is this: In the first act, you get your hero up a tree. In the second act, you throw rocks at him. In the third and final act, you get him down from the tree.

In Chasing Amy, our main characters are up the tree, even if they dont realize in their romantic bliss that they are in a precarious situation. The rocks come in the form of nuggets of information about Alyssas past. Has she always been a lesbian? Is Holden the first man in her life? Holden (like any guy) doesnt know how to react, so he bursts out in anger (like any guy). This leads to the climax of the movie, where we get our heroes down from the tree. In this regard at least, Holden acts in a very uncharacteristic way, but the movie leads to the inevitable tragic end of the relationship. The last moments of the film leave the door open a crack for the possibility of a Hollywood ending, but Smith is mum on the outcome of Holden and Alyssa.