OPPOSITE OF SEX, THE/ **1/2

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The Opposite of Sex

**1/2

Cinema Releases - January 15, 1999

Rated on a 4-star scale. USA. Written and directed by Don Roos. Starring Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan, Lisa Kudrow, Lyle Lovett, Johnny Galecki, Ivan Sergei, William Lee Scott.

"The Opposite of Sex" is a film of dense plot and hollow effect, relying on a gimmick to keep the audience interested. This gimmick is a cute one, but not cute enough to support an entire movie.

Narrator Dedee (Christina Ricci) is an angry, sarcastic young lady who announces early on that "I had to get out of there -- wouldn't you?". 'There' refers to her Louisiana household, and from what we see of her crazy mother, yes, I would have had to get out. Dedee's alternative is to move in with her half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan), a gay high school teacher in Indiana. Bill's former lover, Tom, is dead from AIDS, but that doesn't stop Tom's sister Lucia (Lisa Kudrow) from hanging around Bill's house, and breathlessly dictating her advice on every aspect of life.

Lucia is given plenty of ammunition when Dedee -- who she hates -- seduces Bill's current lover, Matt (Ivan Sergei), and then announces she is pregnant by him. Does hilarity ensue? I guess it depends on your point of view, but certainly ensuing are a lot of wild developments. These include the range of phases Dedee and Matt go through during the gestation period, a strange accusation by one of Bill's former pupils, the way Lucia loses her sexual hang-ups and the true identity of Dedee's impregnator, a guy whose life, death and anatomy are all equally weird.

There is some sharp repartee in "The Opposite of Sex", and equally amusing soliloquy. The latter is the 'gimmick' I was previously referring to, in that Dedee's voice-over underscores so much of the action that commentary is the film's most prominent character. Its smart-ass lines hold our interest, with the spiteful Dedee looking unforgivingly at every person, place or thing, and a lot of the cruel humour being frighteningly perceptive. She even knows she's in a movie, mocking conventional storytelling, or explaining why things are on or off screen.

The fact that I did not care about the characters in "The Opposite of Sex" is down to this voice-over, which forces apathy upon the audience by telling us what saps we'd have to be to be taken in. This is a tricky experiment, and in the end, it doesn't work, because writer-director Don Roos doesn't have the courage to keep up his style. There are long stretches towards the end of the picture which seem to rely on the drama of the situation, as if we'd forgotten about the intended detachment. Roos tries to tack on a voice-over reminder that the movie is aware it's lamely wasting time, but I didn't fall for it, because no matter how much awareness is expressed, the time is lamely wasted nonetheless.

Similar conflict is present in the final scene. One could argue that the film stays true to the detachment -- that since we never see anything reconciled, there is therefore no happy ending. On the other hand, it's clearly announced that as soon as the credits roll, and we spectators witness developments no more, Dedee will indeed run back into the house and reconcile everything. The film hasn't got the courage of its icy convictions, and attempts to adopt straight narrative after showing disdain for it.

I'm not saying that the quiet, enigmatic Bill, the hilariously bitter Lucia, or any of the other characters in "The Opposite of Sex", couldn't have existed in any straight narrative. But the early chapters in this film are so relentlessly indifferent that anything human seems like a cop-out. If Roos wanted to try and sneak some emotion into a sardonic set-up, he should have studied the films of Woody Allen, Bill Forsyth, James L. Brooks and Quentin Tarantino -- filmmakers brilliant in their marriages of aloofness and sarcasm with substance and heart. If he was so in love with thoroughly distant wit, then he should have remained loyal to it. To put a slight spin on one of my early contentions -- the gimmick is cute enough to support an entire movie, but not in the way it's actually used.

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