sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 41 | Rotten: 1
In his feature directorial debut, Steven Soderbergh demonstrates a mastery of his craft well beyond his years, pulling together an outstanding cast and an intelligent script for a nuanced, mature film about neurosis and human sexuality.
Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 0
In his feature directorial debut, Steven Soderbergh demonstrates a mastery of his craft well beyond his years, pulling together an outstanding cast and an intelligent script for a nuanced, mature film about neurosis and human sexuality.
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Movie Info
Steven Soderbergh kickstarted the independent film movement of the 1990s with this landmark drama about the tangled relationships among four people and a video camera. John (Peter Gallagher) is an unscrupulous, self-centered yuppie lawyer with a beautiful wife named Ann (Andie MacDowell). Ann feels secure and well provided-for in their relationship, but she has almost no interest in sex; she tells her therapist that she's more concerned about waste disposal. John, however, is still quite
Jan 20, 1989 Wide
Aug 28, 2001
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Cast
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James Spader
Graham Dalton -
Andie MacDowell
Ann Millaney -
Peter Gallagher
John Millaney -
Laura San Giacomo
Cynthia Bishop -
Ron Vawter
Therapist -
Steven Brill
Barfly -
David Foil
John's Colleague -
Alexandra Root
Girl on Tape -
Earl T. Taylor
Landlord
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All Critics (43) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (1) | DVD (9)
What amazes is that at just 26, Soderbergh displays the three qualities associated with mature filmmakers: a unique authorial voice, a spooky camera assurance, and the easy control of ensemble acting.
Top CriticThis is a sexy, nuanced, beautifully controlled examination of how a quartet of people are defined by their erotic impulses and inhibitions.
The actors are superb; working from Soderbergh's funny, perceptive, immaculately wrought dialogue, they ensure that the film stimulates both intellectually and emotionally.
A film whose enormous authority and intelligence extend to every detail.
A movie of prodigious power and feeling that is also high-spirited, hilarious and scorchingly erotic.
Inspired chitchat, a barefaced Louisiana gabfest written and directed by Steven Soderbergh, a 26-year-old Wunderkind preoccupied with l'amour.
Solid performances and Soderbergh's sense of human nature and cinematic tension are what hold the Sex, Lies, and Videotape together.
Beautifully edited by Soderbergh, the film is evenly paced, its subtleties accreting slowly, and by the end it gathers powerful emotional momentum.
Soderbergh has assembled his cast into a fascinating jigsaw of neuroses, which then leap from the screen thanks to his intriguingly intellectual script.
A mature, beautifully acted and deeply sexy film.
a thoughtful and absorbing portrait of unconventional human relationships
A Liaisons Dangereuses for the video age, Soderbergh's impressive debut is a tale of desire, anxiety, and deception, in which the camera of a sexually impotent man becomes the lead player and storytelling device.
A bitter yet savory time capsule of discontent.
Steven Soderbergh didn't just launch the whole movies-with-all-lowercase-titles craze (as it's commonly written), he also launched the '90s rebirth of independent cinema with this singular effort.
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Foreign Titles
- Sex, Lies and Videotape (DE)
- Sex, Lies and Videotape (UK)
