Shopgirl

Ever drift into a place like Bloomingdale's and wonder what those girls behind the glove counter would be like in the mattress department? Swap Bloomies for a Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills and you have the premise behind Shopgirl, a surprisingly smart, stylish, and funny look at relationships from the brilliant mind of Steve Martin (who stars in the movie and wrote the screenplay that's based on his best selling novella). Claire Danes plays the title role, working the glove beat at Saks and dating a desperate nerd (a hilariously on-target Jason Schwartzman). When a rich lonely guy (Martin) buys our shopgirl a pair of sexy gloves, he winds up in her lingerie department. But as she falls head over high heels for the older dude, the loser Schwartzman tries every trick in the book to win her back. (The poor slob even tries combing his hair.) The odd triangle of lost souls is strangely compelling to watch as they play out a pathetic mating ritual to find the missing part of their respective romantic puzzles. The acting is superb and Danes is a revelation, proving once and for all that Winona Ryder isn't the only thespian who feels right at home in a department store.