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Opposite of Sex, The
Sony Pictures Classics


10.0

based on 26 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

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.

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.

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.

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.

Slate David Edelstein

A truly unformulaic comedy of lust and greed, a farce that seems to write itself, slap-happily, as it goes along.

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.

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.

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.

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.

New York Daily News Dave Kehr

Opposite attracts with its wit.

Film.com John Hartl

For all the cynicism on the soundtrack and the occasional lapses in tone, this is a remarkably generous comedy.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Roos’ talent for vivid, jump-off-the-screen dialogue remains unquestioned, but his direction is considerably more spotty.

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.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

You'll laugh, though you might hate yourself in the morning.

Film Threat Ron Wells

It's an excellent date film, but it won't change your life.

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]

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Uneven but always energetic and sometimes very funny.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Beau M. gave it a10:
One of the most flawless comedies to be released in American cinemas in the last thirty years. Brilliant.

Christmas N. gave it a10:
Saw it with a friend in the theatre who said, as he cringed in his seat, "It's like gargling with acid!" Marvelous, intelligent film.

Rachel H. gave it a 10:
It was refreshing, funny and sexy! Lisa Kudrow was brilliant and Christina Ricci-fantastic!!!!!! 10 outta 10!

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Opposite of Sex, The Sony Pictures Classics

Opposite of Sex, The
Sony Pictures Classics