Sexual Life

Sexual Life (2005) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

This is a relationship-centric dramedy which manages a complete sexual ronde. Person A has a relationship with B, B with C, C with D, and so forth until the last character completes the circle by having a relationship with A.

Since we see each of the characters in two relationships, the interaction in one situation offers us insight into the same character's motivations in the other situation. For example, we see one or two characters claim that they are not sleeping with anyone else when we have seen evidence to the contrary. In the central story, we see a woman in love with two men. She chooses to marry one and break the other's heart, but then we see that the one she has chosen is not all that comfortable with the upcoming wedding, thus making the earlier character's genuine heartbreak all the more painful.

This film doesn't cover any new ground, but the situations feel like they really come out of middle class America. The underlying theme is that a good portion of our lives consists of fooling others and even ourselves. Several of the performances are solid, so on balance it is a film which may not strike you as especially good or bad. I do predict that you will probably not remember much about it a few days after you have seen it.

I would have liked it a lot better if it had offered some genuine nudity from the POV of the sexual partners, as opposed to the peek-around-the-corner kind of nudity the offers only passing glimpses (except for one of the guys!) I'm really not sure why the nudity was so demure. Clearly, the modest level of nudity from the stars was not done to obtain a certain MPAA rating because there is a completely naked background stripper facing directly to the camera, even though the sexual principals never really show very much!

Here's some deep-level movie trivia for you. What is the literary connection between Sexual Life and Eyes Wide Shut?

Both spring from source material written by the Austrian author Arthur Schnitzler. Eyes Wide Shut was adapted and modernized from Schnitzler's Traumnovelle, and Sexual Life draws its basic idea from Schnitzler's play Riegen. Riegen was made into two previous films: Max Ophuls directed La Ronde in 1950, and Roger Vadim directed another film with the same title in 1964.

DVD INFO

Widescreen transfer, anamorphically enhanced.
Full length commentary.

NUDITY REPORT

Anne Heche - one breast from the side/rear
Kerry Washington - one areola and a flash of butt. Maybe more in a sex scene, but it's too dark to see,
Eion Bailey - butt
Azura Skye - bum in a sex scene

The Critics Vote ...

No major reviews online

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 5.6/10

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, it's a C, a competent movie, but neither original nor very entertaining.