Movie Review: The Opposite of Sex

The Opposite of Sex: Torgo approves

So we've been watching a lot of movies lately. Between Netflix and the library, we're perhaps compensating for never actually going out to the movies.

I think I picked this one because of Christina Ricci. She was great in the Addams Family movies. I mean, she was Wednesday. Ok, so maybe those weren't the greatest of movies. But they had great casts. Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd (plus Joan Cusack in the second one).

Then there was Buffalo '66. That was an excellent movie.

Now it seems Ricci gets a lot of mileage out of being an unpleasant, dour, child-faced woman. Wednesday all grown up and chain-smoking. Still, The Opposite of Sex isn't too bad. It has some actors who may not be great, but they're entertaining to watch, like Lisa Kudrow and Lyle Lovett.

The plot is best described as wacky. Ricci's stepfather dies, so she goes from Louisiana to Indiana, where her brother lives in a house that was bought by his boyfriend who died of AIDS, but he now has a new boyfriend, whom Ricci seduces and then tricks into thinking she's pregnant with his baby, meanwhile Kudrow is Ricci's brother's former boyfriend's sister who's sort of in love with Ricci's brother. Meanwhile, Lyle Lovett is sort of in love with Kudrow. That's the basic plot, anyway.

There's some clever writing, including a nice narration by Ricci, pointing out the cliches and cheap plot devices. Not a classic, but solid Tuesday night viewing.