MovieChat Forums > Sex and Death 101 (2008) Discussion > Definitely an unusual movie

Definitely an unusual movie

posted 16 years ago by jivanov-1
2 replies | jump to latest

Clever premise, low budget and a writer turning director make this an uneven movie, but one with many laugh out loud moments. $4 mil with 35 grand for the soundtrack is not a lot for a Hollywood production of any quality but Daniel Waters still put enough quality into the product to make it stand above the average flick.
A man, about to get married, finds out that he will bed another 72 women before he dies. The wedding gets called off, but little does he know that all 72 women are going to pass through his life during the next year.
Simon Baker plays the role with the right sort of expressiveness. Eager to see who's next, with a detachment that comes from knowing the sex is guaranteed and is guaranteed to be meaningless. Seventy-one one-night-stands in a single year and another 27, perhaps, in his earlier years would be both exhausting and yet exhillarating at the moment and that's exactly how he plays it.
Winona Ryder seems a bit mousy for her role as Death Nell but then, reality has shown that mousy women can be dangerous (Lorena Bobbitt, Karla Homolka). Plus, the tie in between one of Simon's conquests (the centerfold) and Nell's ex is funny too.
The women that actually touch his life are given more screentime than those that just grace his bed, but in your own life that too is true. Memories of sex fade, but love and laughter last forever.

I've seen $100 million pieces of crap. This movie is cheaper, funnier, and more poignant. A good go, unless you are a prude, but then you shouldn't be watching a movie with sex in the title anyway. BTW, the original title was "Truly *beep* Both titles suck, but the movie doesn't.

[–] cheekymonkey67 16 years ago

I'd have to agree with most of your assessment. I was expecting, from the reviews, this movie to be TRULY bad. Instead, I found it to be, at times, highly insightful in the areas of sex, sexism, preordained destiny, knowing one's self and human nature in general. It also managed to be quite funny on occasion. Granted it was also highly fantastical at times but I'd feel VERY comfortable classifying this as a Fantasy/Rom-Com. It is not, however, near as typical in plot or execution as your average Rom-Com. This movie was much more cerebral than I had anticipated and many other, more "popular", movies that aspire to be even nearly as poignant as this movie is. I enjoyed this movie immensely despite the fact that it was far from perfect as a whole.

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too. - Voltaire

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6056) a year ago

The premise is fairly original, which is good.

Some of the other stuff that happened didn't make sense though. Like the twenty virgins, for example. Would not have happened in real life. Or that the decide at one point that whatever they do the list cannot be stopped. But then they go around acting like it can, without explaining the change in understanding at all.

It is interesting that the one he finally ends up with has a very similar personality to Dr. Miranda, whom he might have ended up with, if she had accepted him. The main difference is that the one he ends up with had had a much more difficult life up to that point.