The Opposite of Sex

Bomb Rating: 

Perhaps there's something wrong with Christina Ricci's breasts.

There is an important point in this movie when 16-year-oldsexpot Dedee Truitt (Christina Ricci), trying to make trouble for her gay half-brother, Bill (Martin Donovan), turns to his gay lover, Matt (Ivan Sergei), and flashes her breasts to see if she can get any reaction. Although we don't know it yet, Dedee is already pregnant and is trying to hatch some plot to assure her financial security before she hatches the actual kid.

The problem with the scene is that the director, Don Roos, gives us a nice big close-up of Dedee's face while Matt takes an unimaginative stare at her breasts. We don't get to see a thing. The last time Ricci appeared on Leno she said she was eighteen, so what's the problem? Perhaps there's something wrong with Christina Ricci's breasts, which prevents Matt from having an immediate reaction. If so, I think that's something the audience needs to know about.

Shortly thereafter, Matt sleeps with Dedee, suggesting that the whole breast-flashing thing did indeed have some impact. However, given that Matt's not real bright, I believe -- strongly -- that Ross still needs to leave this issue up to audience discretion.

The words "audience discretion" really get to the heart of the rest of this film's problems. First of all, it's narrated. Second of all, it baits us into thinking that Dedee is the central character until she disappears and Bill magically becomes the central character. Focus, people, focus! To make matters worse, this film suffers the "Friends" curse in the form of Lisa Kudrow playing Lucia (pronounced Loosha), the sister of Bill's dead lover. Seeing a "Friend" pop up in any movie is a surprise about as welcome as seeing a poisonous viper pop out of the drain in your bidet.

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