Investigating Sex

It sure felt like a privilege to watch a film like that... Nothing like the average, fully predictable recipe-based product of the rather decaying modern American movie business. Unlike many recent films this one was actually based on real characters, let alone on real persons... I feel the objections expressed round here are exactly because of that: real people are not predictable, their "lines" are sometimes "blurring" the "clear" picture an average viewer -like myself- is used (or rather has been taught) to expect. Characters based on reality often make us feel a bit awkward form time to time. This, I think, is just because real persons are like that too...

I give credit to the director for choosing an eternal question as his theme, and to most of the actors for achieving to convince me, not just act very well. It somehow feels natural to watch the characters, some almost bizarre, just being themselves. The power of confession -through experience, sharing and expression- is, I think, what could turn a sinner (even a puritan) to a saint.

As for the desired equation (love=sex=eros?) it is not conclusively expressed, but then again, is there any human research that ever comes to a finite end?

In my opinion, the above qualities form something of a rarity, a sheer luxury, so seldom permitted by showbiz moneymaking machine nowadays.

I was really hyped about Intimate Affairs. I mean, looking at the cast, there is a wide spread of reputable actors and actresses that I have loved or liked in one film or another. Dermot Mulroney, Neve Campbell, Robin Tunney, Alan Cumming, Terrence Howard, and Nick Nolte; they all have acting chops and I personally love Campbell and Cumming. I was let down, because this movie turned out to be just okay.

It was not great, nor was it bad, but it was pretty darn bland. The characters lacked the ability to entertain, and the acting was robotic. While I found the script choice interesting, it was dull and simple, which for this film they needed to make the script a little more complex and captivating. The ending was not the best way to go, and I felt as if all the stars did not try their hardest. This movie was a big disappointment for me, but it was enjoyable to watch, and I am glad I had the chance to see it, but I don't plan on seeing it again.

Anyone who had the pleasure of seeing this film doesn't know the meaning of the word "pleasure." What an inept piece of pompous trash! It is like Plato's Symposium for morons. Poor Julie Delpy looks like she hasn't a clue as to what she should do, and I take this as a sign of her intelligence. It's a great big piece of empty posturing.Tuesday Weld's accent is all over the place, but I guess we're supposed to think she's just an empty old bag with no substance. Or how about the trembling Neve Campbell who does one shtick throughout but we're somehow supposed to think she's wiser at the end. And then there's Dermot Mulr9ony with deep problems with his dad. Give me a break. What's amazing is that this kind of stuff is supposed to be sexy! Good God, hasn't anyone out there met anyone and had something happen between you?

Directors need to learn that audiences watch a film for the characters, and they need to understand the characters. "Investigating Sex" illustrates characters that are so narcississtic the audience is annoyed from first frame to last. I saw the film at a screening with Alan Rudolph with a discussion afterwards, and he didn't even really appear to know what the film was about either. He just used the phrase "sexually compelling" a bunch of times. I didn't care about the characters, I frankly didn't the film had any characters to offer. Just a lot of actors spreading paint on themselves and turning into donkeys and mules in order to say something profound about sexual relations and sexual attraction. Robin Tunney is great as usual, and the other actors do what they can. If you want to try to beat the meaning out of a movie and read into things that aren't there, this movie is for you. If you actually want to learn something or see a great film, don't watch "Investigating Sex." Because it certainly isn't entertaining. It's really pretty ridiculous.

Pretentious, pseudo-intellectual, pre-frontal foreplay without substance or passion. Wooden acting by all except, Robin Tunney, who displayed unusual adeptness for her characters' misunderstood, Zoe. Neve Campbell wasted here as a rather prim and prudish, librarian type and Dermot Melroney as the rather starched, disillusioned and distant group discussion leader. It was to be a critical expose on the fragility of the Male orgasm and all its unreasonable expectations. It missed. It made men out to bestial, carnivorous, exploratory and very misinformed about women's bodies. On that note it was right on the mark. But from the very nature of the questions asked in the film it was obvious that the filmmaker was only expressing his limited scope and hoping to get a generous amount of love and money for his attempts at honesty apparently since he could not get a date.