Upon receiving an e-mail containing the names of every woman he has ever slept with and every women he will ever sleep with, a man set to be married in just one week eschews his wedding plans in favor of seeking out the truth behind the perplexing message in a black comedy written and directed by Heathers screenwriter Daniel Waters. Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) was prepared for a future of predictable, domesticated bliss -- but fate has a funny way of shaking things up when we least expect it.
When a mysterious message appears in his inbox and he sets out to discover the origins of the strange communication, he soon finds himself falling for a dangerous black widow named Death Nell (Winona Ryder), who isn't on the list. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
This film is headed quickly for DVD. In the video store, though, it isn't funny enough to be shelved in the comedy section nor dirty enough to be filed with the smut.
Even if it badly needs editing, runs almost a half-hour too long and chickens out totally in its final scenes, it's still miles above the Hollywood comedy median.
As a writer, Waters is best-known for creating Ryder's sharp black comedy, Heathers, and Bruce Willis' self-indulgent bomb, Hudson Hawk. As a director, he tends to waste actors, and he fails to establish a consistent comic tone.
Sex and Death falls into the category of those unfortunate films in that it's a schoolboy's wet dream slathered in smug self-back patting and wish-fantasy run amok, all told with the deftness of a piano falling out of the sky and onto our heads.
Now we know how the dopes in the beer commercials spend their time when they are not drinking their beer. They laugh their socks off at movies like this.
The film works hard to be a dark, grown up, romantic comedy (plenty of sex, nudity, bad language and philosophy) and yet it winds up being every bit as childish as most other pictures in the genre.
I enjoyed Sex and Death 101 much more then I thought I would, not only because of Simon Baker but because I found the film itself was very enjoyable to watch and had a few good belly laughs to boot (one in particular had me laughing throughout most of the rest of the film). Don't watch Sex and Death 101 If you are
looking for an average popcorn munching comedy film watch it if you are looking for something a bit different and perhaps odd yet still enjoyable. I was lucky enough to pick it up due to my undying love of Simon Baker and I'm happy I did.
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