The Opposite of Sex

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For the musical, see The Opposite of Sex (musical).
The Opposite of Sex

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Don Roos
Produced by Michael Besman
David Kirkpatrick
Written by Don Roos
Starring Christina Ricci
Martin Donovan
Lisa Kudrow
Lyle Lovett
Johnny Galecki
Ivan Sergei
Music by Mason Daring
Cinematography Hubert Taczanowski
Editing by David Codron
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s) May 22, 1998 (USA)
Running time 105 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $5 Million
IMDb profile

The Opposite of Sex is a 1998 film written and directed by Don Roos. It stars Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan and Lisa Kudrow. The film marked departures for both Ricci and Kudrow, cast against type for the roles they were known for at the time (Ricci for adolescents in The Addams Family and Casper, Kudrow for being the resident airhead on Friends).

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[edit] Synopsis

The film is a black comedy, narrated by and centered around self-absorbed, manipulative, cynical teenager Dede Truitt (Ricci), who runs away from home after her stepfather's funeral and moves in with her gay half-brother Bill, a teacher. Deedee seduces Bill's lover, Matt, then tricks him into believing she has gotten pregnant by him (in fact, the father of her child is her ex-boyfriend Randy Cates). She and Matt elope, leaving Bill and his uptight best friend Lucia (pronounced [luːʃə]) (Kudrow), the sister of Bill's (now-dead) previous lover, to try and track them down and sort out the mess. In the meantime, Matt's "bit on the side," Jason Bock, attempts to blackmail Bill, claiming Bill sexually assaulted him while he was a student. The film's climax is set in Canada where all of the characters finally meet up, and where Deedee gives birth to her son Randy Jr.

After the birth, Deedee moves back in with Bill, while Matt and Jason go travelling together, and Lucia marries her old friend Carl. Narrating the ending, Deedee sarcastically concludes that sex is precisely the opposite of what people should want, leading as it does to kids, disease, or worst of all, relationships. At the end of the film, the vignettes of the various caring relationships among the characters shows the Opposite of superficial sexual gratification.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reception

For its North American theatrical run, The Opposite of Sex took in film rentals of $5,881,367. The opening weekend saw a per screen average of $20,477 for the 5 theaters showing it.

Janet Maslin in The New York Times called it a "gleefully acerbic comedy." Roger Ebert especially enjoyed the voice-over narration supplied in-character by Ricci, calling it "refreshing" and comparing it to Mystery Science Theater 3000:

When you've seen enough movies, alas, you can sense the gears laboriously turning, and you know with a sinking heart that there will be no surprises. The Deedee character subverts those expectations; she shoots the legs out from under the movie with perfectly timed zingers. 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.

Overall, the film scored an 85% on the Rotten Tomatoes site.

[edit] Production

The film began in the aftermath of another film Don Roos had been working on that had shut down when the lead actress left it, putting Roos in house-bound funk.[1] He had a mental image of a woman throwing a chair into an open grave at a funeral and from that one image grew the script of The Opposite of Sex.[1]

Production began on June 8th, 1997 with the filming of a library scene between Kudrow and Donovan that would ultimately be cut from the finished film.[1] The restaurant scene was shot at the closed Chasen's restaurant site[1] (Dan Bucatinsky, Roos' life-partner, makes a cameo during this scene as the waiter).

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d From Don Roos' DVD commentary.

[edit] External links