Kissing Jessica Steinis not a conventional single-girl rom-com. Woody Allen taught us that singletons are neurotic, Sex & the City showed us their sass, Bridget Jones brought out their vulnerable side, and together they wrote the textbook of movie singledom. While Kissing Jessica Stein is clearly in on these conventions, its heroine takes an entirely different path to spice up her personal life. Impulsively answering a personal ad from another woman, Jessica Stein embarks on a tentative relationship with gallery owner Helen. But the couple have crossed purposes--Helen being more overtly sexual--leading Jessica to decide whether her ersatz sexual identity is the real thing, or if it's the companionship she's after.

Wordy and witty, it's easy to spot the film's stage origins, but also easy to attribute this level of intelligence and humour to the two charming leading ladies, Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen. Similarly, while Jessica is almost certainly not gay, the on-screen spark between the two women is enough to justify their relationship. Kissing Jessica Stein asserts that sexual experimentation needn't lead to a massive personal revelation, nor pigeonholing oneself. At the film's heart is peoples' need to find intimacy, a sensitive subject that's treated with humour and gentle irony. This is one date that'll leave you smiling.

On the DVD: Kissing Jessica Stein has two commentaries offering two entirely different perspectives. Director Charles Herman-Wurmfield and cinematographer Lawrence Sher provide an interesting if a little perfunctory look at how this low-budget feature was put together with the help of friends appearing as extras and loaning their apartments. Meanwhile producer/screenwriter/costars Westfeldt and Juergensen are chatty and light-hearted and clearly still excited at their film, a feeling that also pervades their documentary. Deleted scenes and outtakes come with or without commentary, and a trailer rounds off the package. --Laura Bushell

Yet another serial killer drama, Knight Moves is perhaps a little too in love with its own ingenuity. Chess Grand Master Peter Sanderson (Christopher Lambert) finds himself, in the middle of a crucial tournament, challenged to a game whose rules he does not know, by a killer who will murder women until Sanderson stops him. The local police, headed by Sedman (Tom Skerrit), suspect this is actually a game Sanderson is playing with them; while Kathy, a woman profiler brought in on the case, finds herself falling in love with Sanderson but still suspecting him.

None of the performances are more than competent and Lambert's aloof neurotic is perhaps less likable than was intended. Director Carl Schenkel is too fond of odd camera angles and garish lighting, but the end result is a moderately successful detective story for those who are fond of puzzles.

On the DVD: Knight Moves is ungenerous with special features, providing a bare minimum of filmographies, photo gallery and trailer. It has a visual aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and Dolby Digital sound. --Roz Kaveney