 The Opposite of Sex (1998) As a performer, Christina Ricci garners much more "indie credibility" than she probably deserves. Like Winona Ryder in the late 80s, she embodies some sort of post-adolescent bitterness that disaffected hipsters want to identify with. This film makes use of Ricci's charming ability to recklessly spout invective, but contrary to what you'll read in "Spin" magazine or whatever, it doesn't make a strong case for her acting ability. I say this as a fan, and as a pedophile. I anticipated enjoying Ricci playing a total prick, but the joke got pretty old, and the remaining elements of the film weren't all that entertaining. On the plus side, there's the always enjoyable Lyle Lovett, whom I actually like more as an actor than as a singer, and Johnny Galecki playing an opportunistic gay hustler who brings false molestation charges against Dedee's brother in an effort to contact his lover, who Galecki was also seeing. Lisa Kudrow cranks up the bitter-o-meter to 11 with her portrayal of a sexually frustrated single woman still mad at the world that her brother died of AIDS. Kudrow gets the only genuine laugh in the film, as her bitterness reaches hilarious heights late in the film, before she is sexually liberated by Lyle Lovett, whose sexual machismo I have yet to fathom. The character is basically a smart Phoebe from "Friends," but with more bitterness thrown in just in case. Writer-director Don Roos can't seem to decide whether to go for truly black comedy or moralized pathos, so the result is a lot of tentative envelope pushing (the pregnant Dedee smokes and drinks unabashedly, gay-baits her brother and his-now-her lover to their faces, etc) with no real payoff. The seeds for a fairly enjoyable movie are here, but ultimately this is a glorified episode of "Jerry Springer." Which is not to say it's a totally bad film, really. The characters are all very well-defined and memorable, demonstrating the ambiguous character flaws real humans have (as opposed to movie humans, or robots, but I'll discuss robots at a different time). The most likable character is Dedee's over-tolerant brother, whose insecurity and obsessiveness undermine his ostensible fair-mindedness in dealing with his lover and Dedee. Roos uses some unconventional techniques to show these flaws, allowing Dedee to narrate scenes she didn't witness, such as showing the brother paying bills in the middle of this devastating breakup and scandal. What is essentially posited is that Dedee's story, which from the outset promises no dynamic change, may just be a confused girl's version of events as she attempts to rationalize the irrational. Still, I'd have been more impressed had the film followed through on its initial potential for darkness. Dedee insists she won't reveal a "heart of gold" but by the end of the film it's clear that this is just cynicism within the traditional framework – and while the conclusion of the movie isn't unambiguously happy, it certainly isn't as bleak as it seems to set out to be. Even as I argue that The Opposite of Sex "isn't dark enough," though, it's very likely that with a larger context of blackness it would have been an intolerable exercise in over-the-top raging angst, a la Igby Goes Down. Still, I wasn't entirely satisfied that the movie seemed to want to be both hostile and sweet. Here's the pitch: a movie with all the free-floating unpleasantness of the typical independent feature, coupled with the phony structuralism of Hollywood melodrama. You know, as I go on and on about it, I'm not sure what my beef is with this movie, exactly. Perhaps it's just that I resent a movie with too many unfunny punchlines. Where have you gone, Woody Allen? There's not too much sexiness going on anywhere in or around The Opposite of Sex, which is certainly the point. Don't mistake me, it's not the subject matter I object to here, but rather that it's just not a good film. More ambitious than some, hand perhaps worth a look-see if you're bored, but quite honestly, I still prefer Casper.
Review by Eugenia Eiderdown |