Sex After Kids

I was lucky enough to attend a screening of the film Sex After Kids screened at the Royal House Theater on January 11th along with the film's director, producer, many of the cast and crew, and a room full of contributors and fans. To be fair it was a film friendly audience, but amongst the crowd were a few who went in with no investment in the movie at all and from them I found they had the same reaction as did the fans: it was hilarious.

The movie would be categorized as a comedy. But what does that really mean? According to Wikipedia, (the source of all knowledge, right?), a comedy is, "to amuse and elicit laughter from the audience." Check, check, and check. Then it goes on to list a series of types and Sex After Kids doesn't exactly fit any of them. It's a bit of a romantic comedy, but also fits some of the criteria to be considered a "black comedy" except, quite frankly, it's too sweet and earnest for the way it tackles the 'taboo' subjects to fit into that category completely.

It's a similar to ensemble comedies such as Home for the Holidays, Beautiful Girls, and Something's Gotta Give but the cast is loosely affiliated yet connected like in such movies as Love, Actually or New Year's Eve. So I'd like to propose a new category. Since it's an assembled ensemble comedy I suggest: Assenembled comedy. You heard it here first.

Sex After Kids gathers a fantastic cast of six degree separated parents as they deal with relations after having kids. In some cases the issues that are raised are 20 years after the birth of their kids. It's like a coming of age story for adults about a time in life no one ever seems to talk about. There are so many (too many?) movies about twenty-something brats transitioning from college life into being an actual adult. But what about everyone who has done that, since life doesn't stop once you give up keg parties, settle down, and have a family?

I thought the movie was funny, honest, even if some of the situations were "exaggerated for comedic effect" (thanks Wikipedia!) and ultimately sweet. Amanda Brugel is my new hero. Zoie Palmer and Paul Roger Amos made me cry. And Kris Holden-Ried did that thing where at one point he says a line but turns that line into a whole story. Also, it looked beautiful, the locations felt authentic to each character and not overly staged. And I felt like although the movie wasn't detail heavy into each character that we got a full sense of who everyone was as people.

I wish I could sum up the movie easily, but it's actually the type of movie that after you see it for days later you and your friends will be talking about various scenes and laughing again as you go through the funniest bits you can recall to the ones you suddenly remember again.

Where did the comedy vanish off to? I had such a hard time getting into this movie, and it never pushed any of my buttons, and I had to give up not even halfway into the movie.

The storyline was just as far from interesting as it could get, and within the first ten minutes I had my phone out and was doing something else other than paying attention to the movie.

From what I saw of the movie, then I will say that the people hired for the various characters and roles in the movie were doing good enough jobs with their respective characters, they just had a boring script working against them.

Of course there is an audience out there for this particular movie. I just wasn't part of that audience.

I didn't even break a smile anywhere throughout the part of the movie I watched before I gave up. So whatever comedy was applied in this movie was more than lost on me and my particular sense of humor.

"Sex After Kids" scores a meager 3 out of 10 stars from me. Nothing noteworthy or recommendable here.

I almost never write a review, but for this movie I feel I need to add my 2 cents as it is my opinion the rating is way low for this movie. The acting was good and the characters believable. I found myself laughing out loud more than afew times and I do not laugh with that many of today's movies, though I view more than the average, for sure. I thought this movie touched on real thoughts and feelings and think it might have influenced some voters by making them a bit too uncomfortable. It is interesting to me the demographics of the voters. The highest group rating came from the group I would expect to find the topic matter the least discomforting. I recommend this movie, even above most I have seen with much higher ratings, and with confidence you too will find it worth the time.

What a fantastic movie! Funny, edgy, raw and yet touching. My husband and I laughed until we cried. Jeremy Lalonde has taken an ensemble cast of extremely talented actors and made a gem of a movie! If you don't go see it you will have missed out on one of the funniest adult comedies in years. Not to say that there aren't some very touching moments in this movie, there are. Mary Krohnert played her part so well that I literally cried with her when her heart wrenching scene played out. Zoie Palmer and Kris Holden-Ried had me crying with laughter. Paul Amos had me laughing so hard my sides hurt. Amanda Brugel also gave a tremendous comedic performance. Shannon Beckner, Ennis Esmer & Katie Boland work their magic with your emotions too! Jay Brazeau & Mimi Kuzyk gave you way TMI about your parents and do a great job doing it! All the actors even those I haven't mentioned were great. All I can really tell you is GO AND SEE IT WHEN YOU ARE ABLE! To miss it would be a crime.

The storyline and plot were excellent and well written. Watching couples from all walks of life dealing with intimacy after having a child is fascinating and brings a realistic touch to life. The gay couple, a single mom, a single dad, empty nester's, couples from every end of the spectrum bring home this amazing tale of parenting and life after you have a child. Zoie palmer with an accent and Kris holden Reid with his geek out on High fructose corn syrup was adorable :) I loved the lovely sibling banter between Zoie and Paul. Its the evolution of relationships through the spectrum of couples that makes this movie a perfect date night movie. Thanks Jeremy Lalonde for creating this masterpiece.