The Opposite of Sex

Don Roos, USA, 1998, 101 mins

Probably one of the fastest paced comedies of recent years, this is unashamedly a vehicle for Christina Ricci (who was a mere 17 when she made it) starring as ultra bitch Dee Dee Truitt, who warns us "I don't have a heart and I don’t grow one later."

The film jumps all over the place, but has solid steady performances from the ever excellent Martin Donovan (Hal Hartley mainstay from Trust to Flirt) as Dee Dee's gay school teacher half-brother Bill, and Lisa Kudrow (of Friends infamy) as Bill's dead ex-lover's sister Lucia Dalury.

White trash Dee Dee is thrown out by her stepmother after her father’s death and heads across country to see her only living relative – gay half-brother Bill (who is still grieving for his lover Tom who died of AIDS but has an attractive young lover Matt (Ivan Sergei)). Matt and Dee Dee quickly become first of all acquainted and rapidly (when Dee Dee shows simple Matt the "error" of his ways) lovers.

Dee Dee persuades Matt that she is pregnant and they steal away across country to bring up the child, while also stealing a fair chunk of Bill’s money. To stop him from chasing them Dee Dee also steals Tom's ashes, threatening to scatter them. Just to add salt to poor Bill's wounds, Jason (Johnny Galecki of TVs Roseanne) an ex-lover of Matt's turns up. Not believing Bill’s explanation that Matt has left him and gone to play happy families, he falsely accuses Bill (who was one of his schoolteachers) of sexual harassment. Bill finds himself at the centre of an anti-gay media frenzy, so he and Lucia set out to get Dee Dee and Matt, in order to make Jason withdraw his allegations.

Possibly the finest film Ricci has made - Roos seems to delight in her character and this maintains the film's frantic pace (the film visibly slowing when she is off screen). Roos also makes dramatic use of flashback and repetition to keep the audience on its toes.

But will Dee Dee live happily ever after, or grow a heart? Watch it and see.

Review by Stephen Brennan
Taken from EUFS Programe Autumn 1999