The Oh in Ohio

I recently saw a screening of "The Oh In Ohio" - it is a charming, original, well crafted film. The humor is dished up in the right amounts and in all the right places.

This movie artfully deals with sexuality in a light and refreshing way. It is easy to see why such great talent was attracted to this project. Paul Rudd, Danny Devito, and Parker Posey each gave fantastic and thoughtful performances. Mischa Barton brings a certain ease and freshness to her role that may hint at even greater things to come. The cameo by Liza Minelli was icing on the cake.

There were many funny moments but the scene that still makes me laugh days later features Parker Posey in the boardroom - it was brilliantly acted and directed. All in all this is a very refreshing and original film.

I would have assumed that "The Oh! in Ohio" was trying to be the Judd Apatow sex comedies for females, but this was released in 2006 just before the Apatow craze began. So now I'm not sure what they were trying to go for.

It's marketed as a comedy but it's more of a drama. The plot line is that Priscilla Chase (Parker Posey) and her husband (Paul Rudd) are in an unhappy marriage because she isn't able to climax. Along with "50 million other women who suffer from orgasmic dysfunction" as the film tells us.

The film moves forward with Posey trying to have an orgasm. I'm assuming these scenes were supposed to provide us laughs but they weren't very funny. The other half of the movie is Rudd living his depressed life as a biology teacher. Finally the film industry has figured out that occasionally there are teachers for subjects other than English, but unfortunately it's in this movie just so we can have him spout the names of some sex organ muscles. Paul Rudd is one of my favourite actors, but the story for his character is extremely poorly done. The humour is so low-key, that I view it more as a drama, so there is no pay-off for his poor character. I might even have to blame this film for Rudd being relegated to buddy comedies now.

There is a lot to not like in this film, but Posey does shine, and some of the "50 million women who suffer from orgasmic dysfunction" might enjoy "The Oh! in Ohio" but probably not many other people will.

When I first heard about this film, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. Sex and the movies have always had a bit of a rocky history, with some good results (Last Tango in Paris springs to mind) and quite a few bad ones (Anybody remember Casual Sex?). To be honest, I wasn't expecting the Oh in Ohio to be anything other than more of the same Hollywood piffle, featuring low-brow penis jokes (or, in this case I guess, vagina jokes) that predictably avoid any real thought into what fascinates us as a society about sex: The joys, the painful vulnerability, the almost magical awkwardness of it.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised. The Oh in Ohio has its share of both penis and vagina jokes, but they're all offered with a refreshingly non-puerile frankness. Very rarely has a film dealt with such a touchy subject with such aplomb, all the while avoiding the pitfalls that would make a film like this preachy, or exploitive, or boring. This is a film that's not afraid to say a lot of "dirty" words and put forth a lot of ideas that may make people uncomfortable. But the nice part is, it doesn't seem to care that it's doing it. It doesn't wave sex in the audience's face, saying "look how shocking this is," it just says what it has to say and leaves the audience to laugh, or squirm, or whatever.

The performances are probably the best thing about this film. Parker Posey, who we're used to seeing as the over-the-top characters in films like Best in Show, works well as the tentative "woman on a journey of self discovery". Paul Rudd plays his character lightly and likably, avoiding a lot of the pitfalls that plague men in this kind of film. Miranda Bailey's screechy, fun loving gal pal offers some of the funnier moments in the film, and Mischa Barton is sexily unassuming in her role (which could have, in my opinion, done with a little more meat).

But it's the chemistry between Posey and Danny Devito that really gets this film going. An unlikely pairing on the surface, they really do well together, with Devito offering a performance that is somewhat low-key, but utterly charming. There's a sincerity that comes through that made me want to smile, and frankly, to see more of him on screen.

There were a few moments where the comedy falls flat (at least for me), and some wondering where the characters are going during the course of the film. The direction seemed a little detached at times, particularly when dealing with a subject as intimate as it does.

All in all, The Oh in Ohio is what it is. It's not going to change the world of cinema... but then again, maybe it could: if more films were able to be as un-self conscious this one seems to be, maybe we could all start having fun with sex again, rather than layering it in fart jokes or squirreling it away in soulless pornography.

I too saw the film at an AFM screening in Santa Monica, and quite enjoyed it, being a female. I thought the performances were charming, found myself chuckling at several points throughout - and found the "plot twist" at the end spectacular.

Parker Posey was darling, although the woman who played her assistant (Miranda Bailey) received the most laughs overall. And Danny DeVito is always great. Paul Rudd and Mischa Barton round out the cast quite well.

While the film is primarily going to find its following with women, this is a flick that men will enjoy as well. I'll go see it again with my friends once it hits cinemas in the UK.

"The Oh in Ohio" had a lot of the ingredients to make it a successful film but it didn't quite do it for me. I enjoy the premise of the film as it centers on the Priscilla's sexual awakening. I enjoy Paul Rudd's performance. He is always likable. I commend the film for pairing an unlikely couple together, even though it is not within the norms of Hollywood. However, I found the film to be oddly hollow. While I appreciated the trajectory and character arc of Priscilla and Jack, I also found it difficult to pinpoint the point of the story. Priscilla's narrative felt confident. It knew where it wanted to go. However, Paul Rudd's storyline seems muddied. I wasn't sure how his narrative fit into the grand scheme of the movie. The ending seemed abrupt and unconvincing. It left us a void that the movie should have filled. That said, it is still an enjoyable film. Paul Rudd and Parker Posey are great enough actors to keep us captivated, even if the story doesn't do them justice.