Opposite of Sex, The

     I like movies that are about movies, and while this movie is not explicitly about film, it certainly plays with the medium. Our narrator, Dedee Truitt (Christina Ricci, who, as the critic's clich' goes, has grown up a lot since her role as Wednesday in The Addams Family movies) opens the film by telling us that if we like a certain kind of movie (a movie that makes us feel good, for instance), we're not going to like this movie. Also, if you like a certain kind of person (a person you can identify with and like, for instance), you're probably not going to like Dedee. One of the main themes of her narration, and of the film itself, continues to be this idea of playing with your expectations. She and the director (Don Roos) are continuously trying to trick, surprise, confuse, and even annoy you (the tagline for the movie is "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be offended"). Dedee is a nasty little person who seems capable of doing anything to get her way, even something as low down as stealing the ashes of her brother's loved one for purposes of extortion. This movie is all about different people's opinions on sex, both gay and heterosexual. It's conclusion seems to be that even though sex can really screw you up (no pun intended) and annoy you and involve you with all kinds of people you don't want to know, you still can't avoid wanting and needing it.

Jim Genzano