Strictly Sexual

Its a delight to find a movie that's real. Many relationships start with the physical, never go any where, then fizzle out. This movie explores what happens when these two young men ask, where do we go from here? Relationships like people have the ability to grow. Some do, some don't. Why do some relationships gain substance, some stay flat and superficial? Two men begin their relationships with sex and realize that there's so much more to explore. Watching these characters looking for companionship, love, the everything else a relationship can be, makes for a fun date. The acting is super, the sets enjoyable, the music entertaining. All in all this is a real, on target story about life, people and world we live in.

I've seen a lot of love-movies. Most of them follow the exact same pattern, inherit with the category. Don't get me wrong, this one does too. But, it gets across that with a insightful script. The set-up is as follows: Two women, living together, decides they need to get laid and go to a bar frequented by male prostitutes. Two construction workers planning to drink some free drinks and skipping the tab are there, they are picked up and love-story follows. And had it been most movies it would've ended there, and a rating around 5 would be fair. But the script opens up to a wide variety of actual situations and problems relationships run into, with twists of course, but this story keeps trying to portray real relationships and succeeds for the most part in doing so. It has a witty and smart dialog, unexpected turns and overall quality that gets me thinking and recognizing situations. The characters start out as the typical placeholders in romantic films, but end up growing on you and evolving beyond the type and into real, very likable but flawed people. If I'd compare it to other movies I'd say it's a cross between Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Closer.

Thanks again to the IMDb community, since this film came to me via a fellow reviewer in the US – currently on this site it has no UK release date so I suspect I may never have seen it otherwise. However this is not thanks for the quality of the film – only of the gesture. Strictly Sexual has a provocative title and a plot that matches it. It starts with a rather abrupt "future" scene before flashing back to the origins of the story. At this point it has a fun fizz to it that carries you along despite the sheer unlikeliness of the narrative – the gloss and the rather contained nature of it makes it quite engaging.

The problems with it come once this early fizz has settled down a little bit. At stage the film starts to become more of a dramatic affair with the playing out of the drama that inherently comes with any "casual" relationship. In itself this is engaging enough but it never totally rings true and I always felt like I was watching a film with actors in it – it never sucked me into these relationships or gave me things that I could see were real. I have to put this at the door of the script because it is here where this problem comes from. Ultimately it comes down to being a romantic drama but when it is doing the "drama" part, it distracts but never moves.

I don't put this on the cast though because they do as well as they can with the material. The women are the stronger but this may be because they have the dominant characters. Benson does a good job with her character, allowing her to be difficult to understand and a bit conflicted in her signals but yet also keeps her open to the viewer. Kerr has to carry the romance side of the drama and she does this with beauty, lightness and a delicate performance that isn't brilliant but is just what the film needs. I found Long a little heavy in the role and I confess that I though he would have been better handing off to someone else and stick as writer. He is OK though and he works well with Urb, who is a bit too much of a pretty boy but works well with Kerr. The film contains the action really well and the tight focus on these 4 in a handful of locations gives the film a really good feel of watching an intimate play – shame that the material doesn't get as impacting or meaningful as this proximity deserves.

Strictly Sexual is an OK film but it is not as amazing as some here would suggest. The intimate delivery and sexual fizz of the material doesn't transition well when it gets more serious and, when it should suck the viewer in, it only really retains the superficial air that it started with. This is a shame because, while the film feels like it should be better, it ultimately doesn't have the reality and substance that I found myself wanting.

this is an unique movie, a great viewing experience for me. initially, from the beginning, i thought it would be more about profanity and prepared to cut after the first fifteen minutes, but then a couple of sharp lines kept my attention and it was well worth it. just by looking at the actors, the camera work and directing you can appreciate the love this movie was made with. the music also helped a lot, by providing a great atmosphere. you cant really define this as a comedy and put it in comparison with 'comedies' like "american pie" and such - "Strictly Sexual" is a story about love, the effect it has and people; how it can make you happy or make you cry...actually i feel the nonsense i started writing, while all i wanted to say is - this is a beautiful movie, i feel like i'd want to watch it again, and again, just like how you want to love and be loved, always

I begin my comment from saying that love the story itself. I loved the film. The story is so true image of what many of us sometimes feel but fail to live. It both, touches and entertains. The characters are believable and the director, actors and crew did a great job. Although a simple story, none of it is so simple in the end as the relationships between the characters develop smoothly. What i liked about this movie, was the childishly brutal honesty between the characters, the way they relate their emotions and thoughts to each other. "What a great city. People here don't date. They just move in." :))))

I watched it as a story, without prejudice and expectations, and I found myself laughing and feeling for those "types" sincerely. This is a gift. This is where you appreciate the art - it's where you find yourself truly believing the story. Would I watch it again? Hell why not!:)))