Sex Ed

Sex Ed ended up being a far better film than I ever would have anticipated. Going in my expectations were about as low as they get, so perhaps that helped.

Putting me off was the star of the film. His performance ultimately was much better than expected. The picture of him on the cover put me off watching this movie for years, if looking like a loser was a fragrance then that fragrance would be called HJO.

The film does swap around quite a bit from low level comedy to low level who is thinking of the children. In spite of this at the end of the day it still mamaged to entertain so it sits just above average :)

'Sex Ed' has a solid comedic premise: Eddie, a sexually inexperienced 23-year-old teacher, struggles to teach a sex-ed class to middle school kids. Beyond that, there's not much else going on.

Fine direction from Isaac Feder and good performances from the whole cast, especially Haley Joel Osment, whose boyish charm carries the movie. Unfortunately, the story is paper thin and there aren't many big laughs.

The secondary characters are all underwritten. Retta's character exists only to offer Eddie corny motivational speeches from behind the bar, and Lorenza Izzo is used exclusively as a prop for Eddie's sexual desires - why she is immediately attracted to his awkward speech and creepy stares, I have no idea. These characters - along with Eddie's roommate and his girlfriend - flit in and out of the movie when the plot requires them and have no depth or stories of their own.

While there is a lot of potential and talent involved in the film, it just isn't funny or interesting enough to hold your attention for 90 minutes.

Let's get this out of the way first: yes, Haley Joel Osment looks-wise isn't the kid who sees dead people or even his 16-year old self in the wonderful "Secondhand Lions". He's chunky (and could use a good haircut), but damn! is he a really good actor.

He carries this movie, he makes what could be a one-note or creepy character come alive. It helps that he has a terrific script to work with, it could easily have turned preachy fast but except for a scene near the end, it's more about Ed, HJO's character, and his lack of self- esteem, awkwardness around women, career frustrations and so on.

The rest of the cast is really good as well, especially Lorrenza Izzo as Pilar, Retta as bar owner/landlord Sydney, Matt Walsh as the school administrator Washout and young Isaac White as Leon. The rest of the cast is fine as well, even in the small parts. It's well directed and filmed and the score is full of toe-tappers. Special note should be made of the band that plays in Sydney's bar, what terrific musicians.

If you take this movie for what it is --a low-key, low budget comedy with some points to make-- it's a nice way to spend 90 minutes.

I started out, thoroughly enjoying this movie. Admittedly, I was a bit bowled over by the movie being made in my hometown, and the novelty of not only recognizing all of the locations they filmed, but then actually seeing those locations get their time to shine as part of the plot (especially The Hub, which is one of the coolest dive-bars in town - not remotely as 'bright' as the film portrayed it, but still fun, nonetheless). So the movie started out great for me. I was amused by things like 'cock bagel' and basically everything involving Matt Walsh.

But then, everything just kinda fell flat, and it seemed like no one was paying any attention to details. Hector was a very one- dimensional antagonist, and while I now love, and want to see more of, Lorenza Izzo, her character was one of the worst developed in the film. The scene where Eddie goes to have dinner with Tito and his family, and his mother has Eddie rub spices into the pork, only to show, one scene later, that they're having fish? Was no one bothering to keep any sort of continuity in this film?

Overall, great acting in a bad story, but with a good underlying message. Poor direction, stilted dialogue, and amateur camera work makes this feel very much like a college film you make before you go off to Hollywood.

I actually thought that the movie would be more toilet humor-orientated. It was what I saw from the trailer - jokes about genitals, image of the outsider protagonist having difficulties with talking to ladies and his successful friend being almighty alpha male.

But the movie itself is about something different. It focuses on other, more philosophic topics - what makes man a man and what makes life worth living. It depicts the process of growing up as a person, some good patterns of behaving yourself with the person you like and why does it matter to protect your point of view.

However, the humour part is still good. If toilet jokes are OK to you, some gags will definitely make you burst out laughing.

All in all, "Sex Ed" may not be the movie that the trailer shows, but it doesn't make it any worse. Such kind, melodramatic comedy, in reality, is a good way to spend an evening with your friends and/or your fiancé, if toilet jokes and topics are OK to them.