Gulity Pleasures Abound

Thoughts on Scarlett & Pete Yorn's new single, which I can't help but like. (Singles Jukebox)

In everything she has ever done, Scarlett Johansson says “Hey boys! Make me the repository of your fantasies!” Perhaps her entire career represents a model of culture in which the line between “muse” and “whore” is erased. Nevertheless, it is also possible that she has kept something in reserve over the past decade, something that she refuses to give up to the men who spend their time fixedly gazing at her beauty. I’ve usually sided for the first option. But Yorn gives her a wonderful role in this indie-hootenanny anthem that is best likened to a pop version of a Lorrie Moore short story. ScarJo’s a woman with a taste for melodrama looking for meaning with a man equally in love with drama for its own sake. In the last minute, when he sings “You don’t relate to me, no girl”, she softly coos “You can leave whenever you want out”, showing that she’s been gazing at and wisely judging him the whole while.