# Opposite of Sex, The (1998)

### reviewed by
Scott Renshaw

THE OPPOSITE OF SEX (Sony Classics) Starring: Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan, Lisa Kudrow, Ivan Sergei, Lyle Lovett, Johnny Galecki, William Scott Lee. Screenplay: Don Roos. Producers: David Kirkpatrick and Michael Besman. Director: Don Roos. MPAA Rating: R (sexual situations, profanity, adult themes, violence) Running Time: 100 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.

THE OPPOSITE OF SEX may actually be too limiting a title for screenwriter Don Roos' tart-tongued directorial debut. After winding its way through relationship comedy, road picture grit and a dozen genre stops in between, it turns out to be the opposite of nearly everything it first appears to be, including:

1) The opposite of sincerely-narrated coming-of-age drama. Long-time readers know of my disdain for voice-over narration as a substitute for effective film storytelling. THE OPPOSITE OF SEX opens with a warning from Dedee Truitt (Christina Ricci), the 16-year-old vixen at the center of the story: "If you're one of those people who don't like movies where some person you can't see talks the whole time and covers up the holes in the plot...then you're out of luck." Like most of Dedee's comments, that one isn't particularly trustworthy. The narration provides crucial and often hilarious peeks into the troubled character, who runs away from home to stay with her gay half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan), then proceeds to seduce his lover Matt (Ivan Sergei), steal $10,000 of his money and hit the road again with Matt in tow. Roos turns Dedee's bitchy, politically-incorrect narration into an effective tool for understanding characters and subverting expectations, enough to make me soften my absolutist anti-narration stance. That's not to say that the film is all about caustic indifference. In fact, it's...

2) The opposite of cynical. Roos has little interest in wallowing in indie-pic nihilism. Despite the multitude of quirky touches, THE OPPOSITE OF SEX is a surprisingly human story of people for whom sex is either frightening, or manipulative, or a substitute for something more substantial. Ricci plays deftly both with and against Dedee's bile-filled dialogue, giving her a sympathetic edge as she journeys towards some measure of maturity. Even better is Lisa Kudrow, cast brilliantly against type as Lucia, the deeply-repressed sister of Bill's deceased lover. Playing a character so profoundly disappointed by life that everything and everyone similarly disappoints her, she moves and speaks like a perpetually constricted sphincter muscle. It's a brutally funny and quite touching performance, one of the year's best. It also makes it clear that THE OPPOSITE OF SEX is...

3) The opposite of a "guy movie." Photos of a scantily-clad Ricci on the promotional posters notwithstanding, THE OPPOSITE OF SEX is only moderately successful at getting inside the male head. For some reason, Roos (SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, BOYS ON THE SIDE) has generally written much more compelling female characters than male characters through his career. That's true again here, where Ricci and Kudrow steal the show from their male co-stars in less-developed roles. Erstwhile "Roseanne" co-star Johnny Galecki, as a body-pierced, mincing youth infatuated with Matt, is less a character than gay comic relief; William Scott Lee offers yet another Christian character who's ignorant and violent. Even Lyle Lovett, as the gentle sheriff with a crush on Lucia, is given too little shading for the important role he ultimately plays. Only Martin Donovan, always adept at fleshing out minimalist characterizations with piercing glances, emerges fully-formed. Roos covers up several weaknesses with his sharp dialogue, but he can't hide the sketchy male roles, nor the fact that THE OPPOSITE OF SEX is...

4) The opposite of flashy independent film-making. Every once in a while, Roos gets overtly cinematic on us -- a slow pan after a gunshot is heard, a sentimental montage of Bill after Matt leaves. Otherwise, THE OPPOSITE OF SEX might as well be a stage play, a collection of static medium compositions of characters in conversation. Fortunately, those conversations are full of quotable lines and keen insights into the way we use and abuse sex, and vice-versa. Don't expect dumb comedy, gratuitous titillation or cheap sentimentality from THE OPPOSITE OF SEX. You're going to get the opposite of all that.

         On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 opposites attracting:  7.

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