The Opposite of Sex (18)
Directed by Don Roos
Starring Christina Ricci, Lisa Kudrow, Martin Donovan, Lyle Lovatt
Brilliant black comic drama featuring about the best of the juvenile actresses around today- the ever wonderful Christina Ricci as a scheming self-centred teenage gold digger, Deedee. She is the epitome of a girl behaving badly as she heads to her gay half brother's house as the film opens. She proceeds to seduce his dumb young stud of a boyfriend and the pair run off together, pursued by her half brother Bill(Donovan), and Lucia (Kudrow) and the town sheriff, Lyle Lovatt. From there, events escalate to include pregnancy, attempted extortion, and manslaughter! At the heart of the shenanigans is Deedee, but what makes the film so enjoyable is the beautifully developed characters and a witty script. Ricci stars but Friends' Lisa Kudrow is the real revelation here. There is none of Phoebe's dippiness, instead Kudrow is a rather improbably spinsterish and sharp teacher whose life revolves around Bill, who was her brother's lover before he died of AIDS. The film is as much about Lucia's rediscovery of herself than it is about Deedee. She gets a lot of the best and most cynically funny lines, and Kudrow's comic timing is impecable. A subplot pairing her off with the craggy sheriff Lyle Lovatt didn't really work for me. Aside from the fact he is the strangest looking man around- goodness knows what Julia Roberts saw in him!- he is way out of his depth acting wise with Ricci, Kudrow and perenial nice guy Martin Donovan. Lovatt's wooden performance irritated me. However, he was certainly the exception, the supporting cast were uniformly excellent.