Freak Talks About Sex

The other night I stumbled upon this movie on HBO. After reading the short information screen (that digital cable provides) I thought it was something worth seeing. It sounded like many other young adult pot smoking movies I have seen before. It had an actor I liked in it, Steve Zahn, so I decided to check it out. First let me say this movie was titled all wrong. I believe the DVD title, "Blowin' Smoke" captures this movie. This movie is not just about Freak, nor is it just about Sex. Although they are strong parts of the movie. This movie is about growing up and making decisions. You have two good friends who are two years out of college and going no where with their life. Freak is a crazy pot smoking guy who lives in his mother's basement. He is not really motivated. Then there is David (in my opinion is the focus of the movie) who is a writer who tried moving out of Upper State New York, where he moved to Arizona to work on his writing. It didn't work out and now he is back living in a crappie apartment and working a crappie job. Dave really doesn't know where to go in life. He knows what he wants but just isn't there. I get this feeling through the movie of a Kevin Smith type movie. Even though Smith's movies are really only Cult Classics, they still managed to work better overall than this movie. I won't lie, this movie was watch-able and had its moments. I would suggest just watching it if you have nothing to do. It just really goes no where and often scenes end before they ever were resolved. Almost feels a little incomplete. Just in-case you wanted to see it, I won't tell you what happens. Although in the end, it leaves you wondering what happened to Dave. You know what Freak does, but Dave its a little more open to interpretation. I would like to think he finally decided what to do and who to do it with, but they didn't even do a good job at leading you to that idea.

Overall I wasn't disappointed I saw this, but in the end I knew why I had never heard of it. This movie connected to me because of the storyline. A guy two years out of college who is a writer and moved to Arizona to move in the right direction, but things turned out being one big procrastinating mess. I have been out of college for a few years and I am an artist. I just got back from Arizona in hopes to move there to work on my art, but of course I (too) procrastinate more than I should.

Okay, I admit that both the title and the plot of this movie is pretty stupid, but I aside from those two things, this is a really good and funny movie. Steve Zahn gives a truly memorable performance as the title character, Freak. He gets all the best lines, yet David Kinney steals the show as Big Steve. ***

This little movie is pretty funny. As far as films in the slacker genre its way ahead of crap like Reality Bites. It makes a nice rental.

"Freak Talks About Sex" is a misnamed dialogue-intensive journeyman flick about a couple of twenty-something middle class unmotivated males and their acquaintances, perspectives on life, etc. A sort of "slice..." flick which doesn't really go anywhere, "Freak..." is a mediocre C+ watch which may be of interest to 20 somethings, older teens looking forward to their 20's, and older people stuck in their 20's. Others will likely find the film shallow, sophomoric, and silly with a few poignant moments.

This is an interesting view of two unlikely guys who are on a journey to find themselves. The humor is much more subtle and intelligent than Garth and Wayne but will probably appeal to the same audiences. There are many technical problems that expose the inexperience of the writers and directors of this film. The editing is bumpy in places and light changes from a drug induced red glow to bright white in a couple of places but the story line prevails and the main characters stay true to themselves. Watch this one more than once the humor is terrific. The stars and writers are sure to be bigger names in a few months and you will be able to chart their creative growth.