Men

Here's one of those movies that pretends to have something to say, and tries to disguise the fact that it's utterly banal by centering on sexuality. The lead character is played by Sean Young, the actress's slight wackiness gives the character her only spark. Certainly the writing is poor and the plot development virtually nonexistent. Stella is a chef who lives with a young rich alcoholic, who has a tendency to speak in artsty semi poetic phrases. She has sex with strangers for the ostensible purpose of gathering information about men. One problem is that she never seems to learn anything, nor does she seem to be particularly enjoying herself, and the men she ends up with don't seem to have much to tell her in any event. Strangely, as much spouting as Stella does about "this is who I am" and "knowing what she wants", when she is asked about being "a slut" by a friend, the first words out of her mouth are "what about men?" and justifying herself by the way men act, or rather are portrayed to act "in the movies". We're not really given any clue as to what's really going on in the movie, and because of the poor writing, aren't really given a reason to care.

If you're looking for character driven film making, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

i first saw this movie years ago and i liked it then and i still like it now. i thought the movie realistically portrayed a woman who is searching for her own meaning of sex and relationships. she's into trying new things and experiencing life and, as she says in the film, not taking anything that anyone else has experienced as a given. Stella is not looking to be saved or taken care of. she is her own woman who is not afraid of anything and is just curious about life. the different men she meets along the way are interesting and funny and it is nice that she is not trying to fit herself into their lives nor their lives into hers. the movie is not formulaic at all. the food featured in the movie is great as is the music provided by mark Mothersbaugh.

Amusing and well written up until about the last ten minutes of the film. Without revealing the plot, the Richard Hillman character isn't that believable and he does something pretty stupid toward the end of the story that changes the whole mood of the film. The Dylan Walsh character was just a bit too well scrubbed and attractive to be taken seriously as a hopeless alcoholic. Karen Black is pretty funny as a kooky blind lesbian.

A total waste of time. Sean Young may have been hot stuff once upon a time, and her character, Stella, seems to be determined to prove she's irresistible to all men of all ages, shapes, and sizes. But her long string of sexual "experiences" lack any real sizzle, just less-than-hot nudity and obviously faked ardor. Though Stella slides from one unappealing sexual partner to the next with no reservations and next to no provocation, she never really gets anywhere. It's all pointless and goes (dully) nowhere. There's a lot of talk about how free she is, but all she really is is aimless. Though she cooks a lot and talks about what she's cooking as if it's the ultimate in haute cuisine, what she perpetually whips up is, like her sex life, messy and over-rated and, ultimately, unappealing. Every time she is shown cooking, there seems to be a lot of flames and sloppy spillovers -- one supposes this is meant to parallel what she would like to think her sex life is like. But there is no real fire there, not even much steam. The stuff in her frying pan never looks really appetizing. Neither does she.

"Men" is also a total misleading title. There is not a real man in the entire lot of partners she takes on. It's all just a bunch of losers using each other for misguided -- or unguided -- gratification. Stella's "friends" are boozers and losers and abusers, but of course she is, too, and the best thing to say for the lot of them is that they deserve each other. Character development is zero; nobody grows up, never grows in any direction. Plot is nonexistent; a series of porn scenes does not make for anything resembling cinematic story-telling. And the characters (and the talk-talk-talk) become increasingly bizarre and sordid. All this makes the final true-love-and-heartbreak seem out-of-place, a parody of sorts.

All in all a totally dull and pointless something-or-other. Certainly it is not a movie worth watching.

I hate this movie. It is a horrid movie. Sean Young's character is completely unsympathetic. Her performance is wooden at best. The storyline is completely predictable, and completely uninteresting. I would never recommend this film to anyone. It is one of the worst movies I have ever had the misfortune to see.