Susan Seidelman, the director, making her feature-length debut, takes us on a casual, authentic-looking (and sounding) tour of the less glamorous side of New York, circa 1982. Susan Berman, the unactressy actress, is a genuine discovery, and her character is a true original; she's never sentimentalized in an attempt to gain audience sympathy. Nevertheless, she's a cool chick and I would love to travel back in time to meet her. Where the film is less strong is in story and structure: there is very little of both. It's mostly just a series of rambling episodes, of the kind usually euphemestically called "a slice of life". But Berman's presence alone is reason enough to see it. **1/2 out of 4.
Review of Smithereens
