The Opposite of Sex

Starring:Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan (II), Lisa Kudrow, Lyle Lovett, Johnny Galecki, William Lee Scott, Ivan Sergei, Megan Blake, Colin Ferguson, Dan Bucatinsky, Chauncey Leopardi, Rodney Eastman, Heather Fairfield, Amy Atkins, Leslie Grossman, Emily Newman, Harrison Young, Pancho Demmings, Terry L. Rose, Richard Moore (VIII)
Director: Don Roos
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

Christina Ricci had a great year in 1998. The young actress continued to cast off her youthful image from the Addams Family movies and made a big splash on the independent movie scene, especially in this scathingly witty comedy in which Ricci has the central role. Here she plays Dedee, a buxom, sexually precocious teenager who's pregnant, cynical, and looking for a volunteer father for her unborn child. This takes her to the home of her gay half-brother (Martin Donovan) whose current lover (Ivan Sergei) becomes Dedee's latest target for seduction. That's just the start of the mischief that Dedee so masterfully orchestrates, and Lisa Kudrow (from TV's Friends) is also on hand to deliver some of the movie's most quotable dialogue while fending off the affection of a local policeman played by Lyle Lovett. If all this sounds rather sordid, rest assured that the movie's got a warm heart (well, sort of) beating beneath all of its sharp-edged sarcasm. Writer-director Don Roos (Single White Female) injects most of the movie's appeal and humor through Dedee's voice-over narration, which constantly reminds us that even the most familiar movie clichés can be cleverly overturned. As a result, The Opposite of Sex is the opposite of boring. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

A Young Woman Wreaks Havoc.......2007-01-19

'The Opposite of Sex' is an interesting and off-beat 1998 film that looks at how real-life scenarios involving imperfect people might turn dramatic. The narrator and surprising protagonist of this story, played by Christina Ricci, is a girl with an axe to grind, presumably due to her unpleasant childhood. As the movie opens, we see Dede desecrate her step-father's casket at his funeral while smoking a cigarette. She leaves the funeral early, and we see her jump into a convertable driven by Randy 'One Ball' Cates, an outspoken born-again Christian born with one testicle with whom she is romantically involved.

Upset with her family situation, she seeks out her much older gay half brother, played by Martin Donovan, a teacher named Bill who inhereted a large some of money from his deceased boyfriend, Tom, who died of AIDS. Tom's sister Lucia (pronounced "Lew-shuh"), played by Lisa Kudrow, who works as a teacher at the same high school as Bill and introduced Tom to Bill, is now a constant presence in Bill's life. When Dede arrives at Bills house, Bill's boyfriend Matt, played by Ivan Sergei, opens the door for her. Within a few weeks of living there, Dede seduces Matt and then tells him that she is pregnant with his baby. Matt concludes he is bisexual and becomes supportive of Dede, breaking up with Bill, who rightfully feels very mistreated.

Lucia and Bill are the moral compasses in this story. They are the reliable ones with the rightful claim to Tom's money who make sure everything turns out alright in the end. However, everything doesn't turn alright in the end for everyone. The greedy and cavalier personalities of Dede, Matt, and Randy act as a sort of 'axis of evil' when Matt and Randy get sucked into Dede's manipulative games. While Dede, pregnant and emotionally unstable, is vulnerable on one hand, her actions on the other hand ruin the lives of to whom she should be kind.

Dede has no conscience. Dede's character is slightly extreme in that nobody could really be this mean, but this film is a caricature of how cavalier and unconcerned people in real-life can become recklessly extravagant and screw up the situation for many people due to their uncensored greed and egotism.

This is a touching story because the scenario begins so seemingly normal. Then a vulnerable character, Dede, unwinds a delicately strung situation into an unraveled mess for everyone. Yet in the end, things start to work themselves out. For example, the whole dramatic scenario created by Dede helps Sherriff Carl Tippett, played by Lyle Lovett, to seek the courtship of Lucia by becoming involved with the legal scenario that Dede creates. With Matt's help, Dede illegally reposesses Tom's money and Tom's ashes, both of which rightfully belong to Bill and Lucia, allowing law enforcement to get involved. Bill and Lucia turn out to be the winners in the end because they can have the comfort of a clear conscience, but it is disappointing and discomforting when Dede gets off nearly scot-free.

Strange but Interesting.......2006-12-25

Delightfully different coming of age movie. You may have thought your teenager had an odd slant on life, but this young lady takes the cake, among other things. Funny and sad.

The Opposite Of Lousy.......2006-10-14

The Opposite of Sex, (a Christina Ricci showcase), pulls off an almost impossible trick - it's a gleefully irreverent piece of political incorrectness that is never mean-spirited - indeed, as much as it would pain Dede, (the Ricci character), to admit it, the movie has heart. This is a solid film that holds up very nicely under repeated viewings.

Much has been made of Dede's narration, (more of an anti-narration), and the way it lampoons film conventions, traditional plot points, and viewer expectations. She's saucy, fun, and outrageous - the kind of smart mouth teenager who's not nearly as tough and savvy as she wants you to believe. But the real hero of this picture is writer, and novice director, Don Roos. With a lead as flamboyant as Dede it must surely have been tempting to go for the broad laugh, instead, Roos took the high road.

Listen carefully to the dialogue in this film, especially anytime Lucia, Lisa Kudrow, is speaking. Kudrow gives the performance of a lifetime - perfect - but with scripting that smart and well turned it's hard to go wrong. In Dede you have cynicism that wants to be cool, in Lucia you have genuine misery born of a feeling that everyone but you was invited to a party.

This film looks at the meaning of being gay from every imaginable angle. At one end are Dede's stereotypes of why real estate agents prefer selling the homes of gay men; at the other is the memorable scene between Bill, (Dede's half brother), and the preposterous Johnny, (Jason Block). Bill, normally thoughtful and quiet, has found an aggressive way to command Johnny's attention, (Johnny is defaming and extorting him). Bill's short, passionate speech detailing what he has had to endure as a gay man in order to make way for a next generation of ungrateful gay men like Johnny is hilarious, sad, and powerful; quite an accomplishment.

Comedy is hard, dark comedy is harder still. But delivering a dark comedy with truth and bite, that leaves you liking humanity more - not less - that's the opposite of common, that is truly exceptional.

Why does it always have to be about the sex, Why not Shampoo, I want a good Shampoo!.......2006-08-15

WHat I like about this movie is its corkiness and Its able to take things to another level of an in your face black comedy and its unbashful way it stereotypes its characters. The movie after a while just drags and gladly waiting for it to end but my rating is solely on one scene that I hold close, It's when Lucia( Lisa Kudrow) and her deceased brothers' lover ( Martin Donovan) have a conversation about sex and her brothers passing of AIDS. That dialogue was so original and a light way of approaching the AIDS topic not done in any other film with a PUnch, of course.

Keep Talking Christina.......2006-07-19

"The Opposite of Sex" is a lot of fun and very original, what would happen if a standard romantic comedy met "The Big Lebowski". The best part is Christina Ricci's voice-over narration. She sounds like an Arkansas version of Orsen Welles. "If you think I'm just plucky and scrappy and all I need is love, you're in over your heads. I don't have a heart of gold and I *don't* grow one later, OK? But relax. There's other people a lot nicer coming up--we call them "losers."

Much of the credit for this little gem should go to the writers. Roger Ebert had a great observation about the narration provided by Ricci's character in "The Opposite of Sex". "I hate people who talk during movies, but if she were sitting behind me in the theater, saying all of this stuff, I'd want her to keep right on talking".

On the surface, "The Opposite of Sex" has the standard love story movie elements with characters engaged in the process of discovery and revelation. But below the surface the voice-over is providing a sort of sexual teasing to the audience (and it is not the opposite of sex). There is an ongoing shifting out of the movie each time Ricci shifts out of her character to discuss the film and its elements; doing this from a detached perspective, a technique that she is especially effective at. This bonds us to her character more completely than a simple narration or point-of-view. After a little of this, when her character interacts with characters inside the film our identification process as viewers intensifies.

Hopefully Ricci will permanently ditch the blonde look, it does not suit her, although it was OK in "Sleepy Hollow". So much of her acting is with her eyes and dark hair accentuates them. I classify her as a young version of Jennifer Jason Leigh. Both are height-challenged and at times appear dumpy on the screen. Meaning they will never be considered "really hot", but Leigh has turned this into an advantage and Ricci should be able to do the same.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Average customer rating:

A Young Woman Wreaks Havoc
Strange but Interesting
The Opposite Of Lousy
Why does it always have to be about the sex, Why not Shampoo, I want a good Shampoo!
Keep Talking Christina

The Opposite of Sex [Region 2]
Starring: Christina Ricci , Martin Donovan (II) , Lisa Kudrow , Lyle Lovett , and Johnny Galecki
Director: Don Roos
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( O ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Pumpkin
Miranda
Happy Endings
Buffalo '66
No Vacancy

ASIN: B00004RYOQ

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

A Young Woman Wreaks Havoc.......2007-01-19

Strange but Interesting.......2006-12-25

Delightfully different coming of age movie. You may have thought your teenager had an odd slant on life, but this young lady takes the cake, among other things. Funny and sad.

The Opposite Of Lousy.......2006-10-14

Why does it always have to be about the sex, Why not Shampoo, I want a good Shampoo!.......2006-08-15

Keep Talking Christina.......2006-07-19

Average customer rating:

A Young Woman Wreaks Havoc
Strange but Interesting
The Opposite Of Lousy
Why does it always have to be about the sex, Why not Shampoo, I want a good Shampoo!
Keep Talking Christina

The Opposite of Sex [Region 2]
Starring: Christina Ricci , Martin Donovan (II) , Lisa Kudrow , Lyle Lovett , and Johnny Galecki
Director: Don Roos
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( O ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Pumpkin
Miranda
Happy Endings
Buffalo '66
No Vacancy

ASIN: B00004CZ55

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

A Young Woman Wreaks Havoc.......2007-01-19

Strange but Interesting.......2006-12-25

Delightfully different coming of age movie. You may have thought your teenager had an odd slant on life, but this young lady takes the cake, among other things. Funny and sad.

The Opposite Of Lousy.......2006-10-14

Why does it always have to be about the sex, Why not Shampoo, I want a good Shampoo!.......2006-08-15

Keep Talking Christina.......2006-07-19

Average customer rating:

The Opposite of Sex [Region 2]
Starring: Christina Ricci , Martin Donovan (II) , Lisa Kudrow , Lyle Lovett , and Johnny Galecki
Director: Don Roos
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( O ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00004VXZF

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