Sex Is Comedy

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Shows a beguiling aptitude for self-mockery in the pursuit of polemic.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

When she (Breillat) succeeds, as she does in "Fat Girl" and in the final minutes of Sex Is Comedy, the impact can be overwhelming for filmmaker and audience alike.

Chicago Reader Ted Shen

So perversely enjoyable it gives the lie to her (Breillat's) image as a serious, politically incorrect purveyor of pornographic instincts.

LA Weekly Ernest Hardy

Those who are already in her (Breillat) camp will find much to feed on in this at once intellectualized and accessible, documentary-style peek inside the head of a passionately driven woman and artist.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Breillat's first foray into comedy is playful, whip-smart and far breezier in both tone and look than the stylized gender polemics she's known for.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

It's a sweet and light-hearted endeavor that shows Breillat isn't a one-trick pony.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A rigorous and bracingly charming movie about moviemaking.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Mostly, constant little reminders show that Breillat knows the business of movies in her bones. You can learn from it and enjoy it -- two things I never thought possible to say about a Breillat film until now.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Breillat also offers sharp insights into the love-hate relationship between directors and actors.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

By Breillat's usually dire standards, this is practically a laff riot, and if you want to see her funniest, most accessible movie, this is the one to watch.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

It opens fissures through which we can glimpse oddities and strains in film directing and acting.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Parillaud's performance is sharp on its surface and soft at its core. And if Jeanne truly is Breillat's alter ego, she is a pitiless self-portrait.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It feels too self-satisfied, but the prickly personalities and relationships have the ring of experience.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

This is amusing, and even poignant in the final moments.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The film's central flaw is that the characters are haphazardly developed, and don't come across as more interesting than the props.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Sex Is Comedy is not sure what it's really about, or how to get there; the director is seen as flighty and impulsive, the situations seem like set-ups, and we never know what the Actor and Actress are really thinking -- or if thinking has anything to do with it.

Film Threat Rich Cline

It captures both the exhilaration and tedium of the filmmaking process--and of looking for and finding passion wherever it might be.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Enjoyable if light, until it becomes apparent that Breillat is not simply waxing narcissistic but fashioning a simultaneous critique, explication, and demystification of the lengthy, near-single-take defloration that is Fat Girl's centerpiece.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

The "comedy" part of Sex is Comedy comes intentionally from cast-crew interaction.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A strange creature, a narcissistic mock documentary.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

A not terribly creative movie about the creative process.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Talky and mostly humorless, but interesting as a reflection of Breillat's experiences directing her own popular film "Fat Girl" in 2001.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The result is a minor, meandering film.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Annoying, soporific and singularly humorless.