The Opposite of Sex (1998)

Sadly Over-hyped

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Dedee Truitt (Christina Ricci) is a 16 year old from Creve Coeur, Louisiana. She runs away to her gay half-brother high school teacher Bill Truitt (Martin Donovan). He's living with his foolish boyfriend Matt Mateo (Ivan Sergei). She has everyone wrapped around her little finger except Bill's stuck-up friend Lucia DeLury (Lisa Kudrow) who is the sister of Bill's dead ex-lover Tom. Dedee is manipulative and outrageously inappropriate. She seduces Matt, claims Matt is the father of her unborn child, steal $10k from Bill, and runs away to L.A. Matt's other boyfriend Jason Bock (Johnny Galecki) wants Matt back and maliciously lies to Sheriff Carl Tippett (Lyle Lovett) about being molested when he was Bill's student. That's when things start to turn crazy.Dedee is selfish and morally corrupt. And she's played with biting wit by Ricci. She gives a running inner monologue and that is even worst than her inappropriate comments. Everybody is running around orbiting this little tart. The only reasonable person seems to be Lucia but she may be the most troubled of all. She's been hopelessly pining for a gay guy while ignoring an admirer. Lisa Kudrow is just as effective performing the polar opposite personality. She is just as funny in her frustration with Bill.

The Opposite of Sex works as both a wonderful, if cruel, character study, and a parody of audience expectations. Christina Ricci plays an absolute bitch in this movie. Her life revolves around ruining the lives of others. She doesn't even seem to get that much out of it, her reward is to cause people pain. Whether that be acting out at a funeral, inviting herself to stay, getting pregnant, or stealing her half- brother's boyfriend. Ricci narrates in a self knowing tone, explaining why we feel sorry for certain characters and not others. This often works comically, especially when building sympathy for her brother, she then shows the clips where he doesn't sit around brooding. On the opposite end of the spectrum we have Martin Donovan. He is so painfully nice you just want him to lash out. He's an absolute joy of a character, bringing a chilled and relaxing counterpart to Ricci's hobag. We also have Kudrow as a woman so scared of her own life she interferes with others. She tells everyone how to live their life, and her journey is one of the sweetest as the film reaches a satisfactory and moving conclusion.This is a film about the power of sex, but also how there are other things out there. The only downsides were that it was sometimes too smart for its own good, and the homophobic and lack of knowledge concerning aids seemed very dated.

The Opposite of Sex is a black comedy. Black comedy is an acquired taste; you either hate it or love it, there's no in between. With that said, I love this movie. Granted that I can see why many people don't like this movie, I would still recommend The Opposite of Sex as well worth taking a look.The Opposite of Sex is about Dedee Truitt (an exquisite performance by the ever-talented Christina Ricci) a precocious, cynical, sharp-tongued, foul-mouthed and manipulative teen temptress who, after flicking her cigarette and smashing her chair onto her stepfather's coffin at his funeral, runs away from home to move in with her gay half-brother, Bill (Martin Donovan) and his sexy young lover, Matt (Ivan Sergei). Dedee seduces Matt and only after she has sex with him does Dedee reveal that she is pregnant. Things get very complicated very quickly as Dedee convinces Matt to run away with her yet again along with Bill's money and the ashes of his dead lover, only to dump Matt for Randy Cates (William Lee Scott), Dedee's psychotic ex-boyfriend, all the while Jason Bock (Johnny Galecki), a former high school student and Matt's other boyfriend, accuses Bill of a crime he didn't do after Bill doesn't tell him where Matt has gone to.There's are reasons why I would recommend this movie to others and reasons why I wouldn't. The reasons why I would recommend The Opposite of Sex is the following: a fresh, cliché-free plot, the clever dialogue and, most of all, the performance by Christina Ricci. The little girl who started out in Mermaids, the two Addams Family movies and Casper truly has gone far in her career. The Ice Storm may have been her first non-kid friendly adult role, but I would honestly have to say that The Opposite of Sex is what firmly cemented her as a mature actress all the while saying that the little girl who played Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family, The Addams Family Values and Kat Harvey in Casper has grown up is moving on with her career, something that many other child stars (here's looking at you, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Lindsay Lohan!) can't seem to do. In addition with that, her performance as Dedee Truitt is something that has to be seen to be believed; Christina makes us, the audience hate and love Dedee at the same time. How she never got that Golden Globe she was nominated for or an Oscar for that matter is beyond me.Now the reasons why I wouldn't recommend this movie. As I said in my title black comedy isn't something for everyone. Combined with the fact that this movie is also VERY unpolitcally correct as well as that half the characters in this movie are gay (yes, I know it's a stupid reason to hate a movie because it has gay characters, but a lot of idiots on IMDb practically throw a fit over this movie for that reason). The tagline of the movie "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be offended!" isn't lying. If you love black comedy you'll laugh, if you don't you'll just end up crying and being offended. I personally think that's why there's so many negative comments about this movie both in other reviews and on the message boards: people sat down watching this movie thinking that it going to be harmless entertainment, only go get a slap in face from darkness and the context of the movie.So to conclude, I'll just say again that I love The Opposite of Sex and again say who will enjoy this movie and who won't.People who will like/love The Opposite of Sex: fans of dark/black comedy, fans of Christina Ricci and people who want to watch a movie that is bold, daring and original.People who will dislike/hate The Opposite of Sex: the easily offended, Politcaly Correct Nazis, homophobes and people who don't like and/or don't understand dark/black comedy.Personal rating: 9/10

OK, now I understand the reason why many people will dislike this movie. It deals with many taboo issues, such as underage sex/pregnancy, homosexuality in a unfavourable light, murder, profanity, mischief and illegality. Writer/director Don Roos gambled the movie's entire ideologies in order to get the important message across. Lets face it, it's not as if Roos is an inexperienced scriptwriter of this ilk. After all, he penned the screenplay to another "Anti-women's liberation" movie, 'Single White Female'. He seemed the perfect guy to translate the honesty of lower/middle class America to the screen; and the style he chose to produce the movie in needn't be mentioned at this stage. Now, onto the film itself...Didi Truitt (Christina Ricci) is the most cynical and sarcastic of all teenage girls. She believes the world owes her favours and should pay dividends. Her step-father passes away and so she leaves her mother and goes to find her long-lost step-brother Bill Truitt (Martin Donovan) in hope that he will take her in and give her the life of Riley, which she never had at home. She takes a gun with her...She knocks at his front door - his boyfriend answers; this shakes Didi up, but nevertheless she is in desperation, although she never lets it transcend. Her step-bother is an English teacher at the local high school: He is a pushover of a man who has no discernible masculinity whatsoever. He lost a very close ex-boyfriend to AIDS a year before which is obvious to the viewers that this wrecked his life, but to his "handsome airhead" of a boyfriend, Matt Mateo (Ivan Sergei), it is not.Due to the close relationship he held with his ex, he has since adopted a possessive and maniacal "sister-in-law" figure, Lucia (Lisa Kudrow), who wholeheartedly disapproves of Didi right away. Lucia is a dominant presence in Bill's life and she takes the helm whenever any crisis is imminent. Many people hate Lucia - she doesn't care.Didi and Matt have a crush on each other and basically, they end up in bed together. After months of sneaking around behind Bill's back, Didi announces that she is pregnant, and that Matt is the father. They steal Bill's $10,000 stashed in his safety deposit box and elope to Los Angeles where Matt takes up a minimum wage job to support Didi and the unborn child. Matt quits his job after running into Bill and comes home early one day to find Didi in bed with Randy (the guy with one ball). She announces to Matt that the baby is in fact Randy's. The latter has a terrible temper and he and Matt begin to rumble. Didi and Randy leave together and set up home elsewhere. He and Didi have a confrontation in which she ends up killing him.Matt visits and they leave together to escape the law. Didi has the baby and the audience's expectations are toyed with again here. The narrator (a monotonous and cynical Didi) tries to convince the viewers that she dies during childbirth. This is held for about 15 seconds, then the truth is revealed.At the end of the movie, Didi goes back to school - more bad-tempered than ever - and Bill is left with the child, while he becomes involved with Didi's parole officer. The final shot is where Didi shouts "Go!" to the audience. A sign of anxiety and depression, or just plain swings-and-roundabouts for a troubled teen? Anyway, I've missed out a bit involving a character called Jason and the media circus that he erupts on Bill's already sucky life. But just in case you read this before watching the movie, at least there's a couple of surprises in there for ya.All in all, an excellent, if complicated, movie (of course, in my opinion). There are not enough honest movies like this one. In a time when the only teenagers Hollywood churned out were those from 'American Pie' and 'Cruel Intentions', it was a breath of fresh air. I am a firm believer in that people should be taught the importance of self-discipline when growing up. Knowing how to deal with certain situations, etc. I also believe that Hollywood perhaps shouldn't gloss over things as much as they do. It is really important that some people have access to a film that deals with adolescence frankly; and as far as the message goes - It leaves a deep mark that you won't soon forget.Great Movie - ****