Popcorn Reviews With Cybèle: The Opposite of Sex

By Cybèle Elaine Werts  
CybeleW@aol.com

First  published in the Shelburne News, Shelburne Vermont

Popcorn Kernel Rating (four possible): 3.5 Kernels for a mostly funny and irreverent film

By the time I rented The Opposite of Sex, I’d seen the voiceover thing with Christina Ricci about a zillion times on commercials. So the deal is that she is a jaded hardass making her way through the world with sex and manipulation as stock in trade. Snoozer maybe. But Ricci is really something on screen, and she plays DeDee Truitt with a vinegar sting that brings life to an otherwise uninspired story. Although this movie is billed as a comedy, it’s more of a black comedy or something else as yet unidentified by the movie crowd. DeDee Truitt narrates the film in third person, telling the story of her travels through a passel of lovers, fights, guns, and babies all the way to the ending which while interesting, had lost a bit of it’s bite. For this you can thank a swell of soggy emotion that didn’t match up well with DeDee’s approach on life.

Still, her adventures are amusing as she moves to the home of brother Bill Truitt (Martin Donovan) in order to escape her teenage angst and somesuch, and gets involved with various and sundry lovers, leaving behind a disaster of emotional proportions as she trots off to find more fun and games. Sure, it’s all a little confusing as to who is doing who and what to whom, but hey, most definitely amusing!

Suggested Gustatory Accompaniment: Bananas Foster.

Copyright 2000