Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Sex, Lies, and Videotape Image
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Metascore
86 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 17 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 25 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Starring: Andie MacDowell, James Spader
  • Summary: Written in eight days on a trip to Los Angeles by first-time feature director Stephen Soderbergh, and shot in five weeks on a meager $1.2 million budget, the film tells the story of Graham (Spader), who visits old friend John (Gallager), and engages John's wife (McDowell), and her sister (San Giacomo) in his unique method of overcoming his unusual sexual dysfunction.… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    100
    A movie of prodigious power and feeling that is also high-spirited, hilarious and scorchingly erotic.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    100
    The kind of picture to whip out the clichés for: Surprisingly original. Delightful. Brilliant. Funny as all heck. When 1989 is through, sex, lies, and videotape may well be remembered as the best film of the year. [11 Aug 1989, Daily Datebook, p.E1]
    All this critic's reviews
  3. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    80
    Cunningly scripted and acted, and talky in the best sense, the film is engrossing to watch but not especially interesting to ponder afterward; it's certainly an improvement on formulaic Hollywood, but on a thematic level there's still more windup than delivery.
  4. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    60
    The writer in Soderbergh proves the ultimate weak link. In sex, lies' last third, he seems seized with a compulsion to make sense of it all, bring everything to bear, give everyone their moral comeuppance, their screenplay payoff.

See all 17 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 2 out of 9
  1. NachoC.
    10
    Wow. Soderbergh stop making big budget films, come back to writing solid screenplays and drawing the best out of actors. SLV was a fantastic film, highly recommended.… Collapse
  2. MarkR.
    10
    One of the best films I've ever seen. almost twenty years old and has lost none of its erotic and intellectual impact.
  3. ryancarroll88
    9
    It doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the table, but provides an interesting look at sex and relationships and all the kinks in between the two. You have to give director Steven Soderbergh credit for making a movie that focuses completely on sex without having any actual sex scenes (or even nudity). It's also nice to see a film that deals with the subject matter so maturely without having to get Woody Allen involved.… Expand
  4. RobertR
    8
    Sex, Lies, and Videotape is an imposingly inherent annotation on infidelity. Its four separate protagonists share affinities in their exposure to sex, one being their reluctance to completely discuss sex as a sober topic. Though it appears that Graham is the most sophomoric of the characters, his ability to comprehend sex as a momentous and frustrating force in life is a profound revelation that permits the transcendence of his character, which deepens the dimensions of… Expand

See all 9 User Reviews

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