Desperately Seeking Susan | Rotten Tomatoes

Desperately Seeking Susan

PG-13

Now Playing

1 hr. 44 min.

Comedy

Drama

List

84%

32 Reviews

Tomatometer

62%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

New Jersey housewife Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) spices up her boring life by reading personal ads, especially a series of them being placed by a mysterious denizen of New York City named Susan (Madonna). When one of Susan's ads proposes a rendezvous with her suitor (Robert Joy) at Battery Park, Roberta secretly tags along. But when her voyeuristic jape ends in permanent memory loss and a new jacket, Roberta begins to gather a lot of unwanted attention from some unsavory characters.

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Critics Consensus

Desperately Seeking Susan works with its fairy tale depiction of New York and the fun, frothy chemistry generated by its two leads.

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Koi P

A fun, lighthearted, and entertaining movie.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/18/24

Full Review

Matthew R

Such a fun 80s, romp!! Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn, Laurie Metcalf and Madonna are killer in this!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/12/24

Full Review

Isuzu B

I remember when the media hyped everybody into believing this was a great movie. When I got around, actually watching it in the movie theater, I realized Madonna would never have an acting career. Nice to see that finally the rest of society is taking the pennies off their eyes and see there is nothing to see.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/02/24

Full Review

sean s

worst movie ever made

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/02/24

Full Review

Shane J

Great 80's rom com with a twist. Madonna at her best.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Susan Siedelman directs one of Madonna's first films along with Rosanna Arquette a comedy about living a happy life using more than one woman's mind Arquette plays Roberta who wants to be just like Madonna's Susan in a newspaper ad living a vicarious, care-free existence after a knock on her head Roberta 'becomes' Susan opening a whole new side to her all the while during this confusion someone is after Susan after a pair of valuable Egyptian earrings are stolen which she happens to have with her Roberta lives the new-life as Susan while the real Susan tries to get a handle on how out of control her life has gotten thanks to this mixup Mark Blum as Roberta's husband searches for her as he too finds out certain things about her he never knew sometimes it takes a smack to our noggins telling us to wake up to find out what we actually want out of life instead of settling down for the ordinary, safe, plain lifestyle even something as a case of mistaken identity can change things in so many variations I love Madonna's on-screen appeal as well as some of her 1980's tunes, Arquette is very likable as Roberta switching from one mindset to the next but also discovering who she truly is, true there's not a lot of laugh-out-loud moments but it is gigglish seeing this woman go from one thing to the next where she hasn't gotten a clue how deep this other person she admires has gotten into it's maybe true too that so many of us are desperately seeking the actual person we want to be like this Susan character to be more than what we're given two likable female leads with a simple script for a pleasant watch

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Susan Seidelman

Director

Rosanna Arquette

Roberta Glass

Madonna

Susan

Aidan Quinn

Dez

Mark Blum

Gary Glass

Robert Joy

Jim

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Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Roberta Isn't Susan

1:35

Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Take a Valium

1:36

Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Bad Luck Is Following You Around

1:00

Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Magic Trick

2:15

Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Dez Confesses to Jim

1:56

Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Got Any Pot

2:09

Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Into the Groove

2:56

Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Rooftop Kiss

1:43

Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Desperate is Romantic

0:49

Desperately Seeking Susan: Official Clip - Stalking Susan

2:09

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David Denby

New York Magazine/Vulture

A few scenes are very funny, but the picture would have worked much better if Seidelman had thrown away half the dialogue and built some momentum.

Dec 31, 2019

Full Review

Kirk Ellis

Hollywood Reporter

An attractive, energetic young cast and some witty, off-center visual humor make the resultant laughs more than worth the wait.

Apr 9, 2019

Full Review

Paul Attanasio

Washington Post

More central to the popularity of "Susan" is the way it allows the audience to feel hip.

Jan 2, 2018

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

This modern bohemian take on the classic screwball comedy (complete with amnesia, mistaken identity, and a stolen treasure treated as second-hand jewelry) is also a great time capsule of the New York street culture of the 1980s.

Apr 6, 2024

Full Review

Eve Tushnet

Patheos

...rough-edged and willing to be weird; its interiors and lighting are more extreme, its characters are grittier...

May 24, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Oozing New Wave attitude and drenched in NYC ambience.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 29, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

New Jersey housewife Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) spices up her boring life by reading personal ads, especially a series of them being placed by a mysterious denizen of New York City named Susan (Madonna). When one of Susan's ads proposes a rendezvous with her suitor (Robert Joy) at Battery Park, Roberta secretly tags along. But when her voyeuristic jape ends in permanent memory loss and a new jacket, Roberta begins to gather a lot of unwanted attention from some unsavory characters.

Director: Susan Seidelman
Executive Producer: Michael Peyser
Screenwriter: Leora Barish
Production Co: Orion Pictures
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 20, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $24.4M

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