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Opposite of Sex, The
Sony Pictures Classics
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong language and sex related dialogue and sexuality
Starring
Christina Ricci,
Martin Donovan,
Lisa Kudrow,
Lyle Lovett,
Johnny Galecki,
William Lee Scott,
Ivan Sergei,
and
Megan Blake
Lessons of life and love are learned as various characters confront and explore their own sexuality, learn to let go of their traditional beliefs and ultimately discover that what they really want is "the opposite of sex" - lasting, committed and loving relationships. (Sony Pictures Classics)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Don Roos
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Don Roos
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 17, 1998
Video: October 14, 1998
Theatrical: May 22, 1998
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
105 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
It's a terrific movie.
100
San Francisco Examiner
G. Allen Johnson
A movie that has an odd plot, quirky characters and a real edge, but it's not in-your-face, a re-invention of a genre or a smirky independent. It's different because it's flat-out great.
100
Time
Richard Corliss
This is a declaration of love: The Opposite of Sex is the smartest, edgiest, most human and handsomely acted romantic comedy in elephant years.
100
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Sex holds in perfect tonal balance, and without cynicism, a brew of maliciously transgressive comedy and tender sympathy for its tortured characters, all gripped by terror of love, or sex, or both.
100
Los Angeles Times
Kristine McKenna
A brilliantly written black comedy in the tradition of "To Die For" and "Flirting With Disaster," The Opposite of Sex was worth the wait.
90
New York Magazine
David Denby
Dedee is a great, entertaining caricature, an updated teen version of a forties-noir seductress and murderess -- Lana Turner without corsets... Ricci possesses a devastating way with a nasty line; she could curdle mother's milk from 30 paces.
90
Film.com
Tom Keogh
[Roos's] dialogue (including an on-and-off voiceover by Ricci's pregnant, runaway sociopath) has a ringing clarity, his satire is low-key but quite real, and his actors mesh so perfectly you'd swear they rehearsed for months before shooting.
88
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The kind of daring feature that doesn't open every Friday at the local multiplex; its frank, sometimes politically incorrect approach towards the act and politics of sex is refreshing.
80
Slate
David Edelstein
A truly unformulaic comedy of lust and greed, a farce that seems to write itself, slap-happily, as it goes along.
80
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
What redeems the film's surface bitterness are sharp observations, laceratingly funny dialogue and something Dedee claims to find especially loathsome: a secret heart of gold.
78
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Even some third-act deus ex machina scrambling can't homogenize the film's darkly cynical punch. Tough as nails and twice as hilarious, it's a remedy for summer treacle.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Ruthe Stein
The best scenes are of people talking -- and that's not just because the lines are so good. Roos doesn't seem to know what to do with his characters when they aren't blabbing.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The De-Dee character subverts those expectations; she shoots the legs out from under the movie with perfectly timed zingers.
75
New York Daily News
Dave Kehr
Opposite attracts with its wit.
70
Film.com
John Hartl
For all the cynicism on the soundtrack and the occasional lapses in tone, this is a remarkably generous comedy.
70
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Roos’ talent for vivid, jump-off-the-screen dialogue remains unquestioned, but his direction is considerably more spotty.
70
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
The wonder of it all is how bitterly funny the complications are, especially as filtered through Dedee's monstrously self-centered voice-over.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
You'll laugh, though you might hate yourself in the morning.
60
Film Threat
Ron Wells
It's an excellent date film, but it won't change your life.
50
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
For all Ricci's zingers, the actress who gets the most laughs here is Kudrow, who has an amazingly right-on offbeat comic sense and rhythm. Playing a bright, sexually repressed Indiana teacher, she displays priceless timing. [19 June 1998]
50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Uneven but always energetic and sometimes very funny.
50
USA Today
Susan Wloszczyna
The opposite of entertainment, a self-satisfied soap opera from hell. But anyone itchy to see Ricci in her fleshy glory will adore her femme fatale for the Jerry Springer age, a Stanwyck stoked on steroids and SweeTarts.
42
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Traffics in the coyly blasphemous, aren't-we-dysfunctional family-disaster chic that has become the single most annoying trend in independent filmmaking.
40
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Consistently clever without ever being funny. The film is so in love with its own carefully calibrated outrageousness that it doesn't bother to give its characters any depth beyond sitcom-level stereotypes.
40
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
This 1998 movie is essentially a compilation of things-aren't-what-they-seem games played on the viewer; all its little tricks, including Ricci's snide and smart-alecky voice-overs about movie conventions, are really old--except one. But it's not worth the wait.
20
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
Very much like sex. On second thought, make that bad sex. Actually, sexual assault is more like it. It will leave you feeling used, bruised, violated, mistrustful and unclean.
 The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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