"Better Than Sex" is yet another mostly bedroom two-hander on a relationship, like "About Last Night" and "Breaking Up," but is quite charmingly done in a frank and funny tone.
With a gimmick of a time-bound, three-day relationship setting the limits, the talking to the camera by the two lovers and their friends works as a way to show what's going through their heads. This technique is especially useful when dealing with the visual problem foreign movies have grappled with but American movies have avoided since "Klute" (especially "Pretty Woman"): how to show when sex changes with feelings.
There is a touch of magic realism with a bemused cab driver, but she also could be their whimsical thoughts.
The Australian actors are not of the pencil-thin/gym worked-out American variety, but are lustily and cheerily robust as we see quite a bit of them.
What was confusing was the order their days together are presented -- did my projectionist mix up the reels or was the print I saw mixed up? At one point one character says "We've already had our first fight," which hadn't happened yet, and he leaves with a bag he hadn't brought over. But then later both the fight and the bag appear. I also got confused as to what was which with an indication of "The Third Day" vs. "The Last Day." There's a possibility it was shown out of order for emotional effect, but then I think the changed red sheets didn't appear at the end.
The Aussie pop songs are nice, but incidental and hardly noticeable.
(originally written 11/17/2001)
