Love & Sex
Encyclopedia
Love & Sex is a 2000 film written and directed by Valerie Breiman. A comedy-drama, it stars Famke Janssen
and Jon Favreau
.
is rejected, magazine journalist Kate Welles (Famke Janssen
) is told by her editor, Monique (Ann Magnuson
), to write an article on loving relationships instead -- and to do so by the end of the day or face being fired. This gets Kate thinking back over her own various misadventures searching for love over the years, and wondering if she is in much of a position to write on the subject.
Kate's first relationship, a playground romance in grade school with a boy named Bobby, ends when Kate's friend spills the details of their relationship to the entire school, humiliating Bobby. Kate goes on to lose her virginity to her ineloquent high school French teacher, Mr. Boussard, whom she accidentally insinuates has a small penis
. Kate's next relationship, in college while attending UCLA, is with another older man, a music video director named Eric. Things go well with Eric for several weeks until Eric's wife and child show up unannounced while he and Kate are about to have sex; unaware that Eric was married with children, Kate storms off, heartbroken.
Kate meets the love of her life, Adam Levy (Jon Favreau
), while attending the latter's art show while on a date with Richard, a boring, miserable stand-up comedian. Adam steals Kate away from Richard effortlessly. The two become instant best friends over the course of their first date, and begin living together as a happy couple thereafter. On the eve of their one-year anniversary, Kate reveals that she is pregnant; the two decide to bring the baby to term, but Kate suffers a painful miscarriage a few weeks later, to the emotional distress of both.
Over the next few months, the honeymoon period of Kate and Adam's relationship comes to an end, as each reveals personality traits that annoy the other. This finally culminates one night when Adam realizes that he is not happy in their relationship any longer -- in his words, the timing is just off -- and he wants to break up. Kate, devastated that her first successful relationship is ending, seesaws between feigned relief that they are breaking up, and her actual heartbreak. Adam moves out and begins dating other women, further distressing Kate. Kate ups the ante by becoming involved with other men simply to make Adam jealous, which slowly begins to work. After numerous fights, Kate and Adam admit that they must stop intentionally hurting each other if any friendship is to be kept between them.
Kate meets a dimwitted but good-natured B-list Hollywood actor named Joey Santino, and begins to date him. Adam's relationships with other women fizzle out, and as Kate and Joey grow more serious, he begins to realize that Kate was the right woman for him all along. Adam pleads and negotiates with Kate to take him back, but Kate refuses, reiterating what Adam said previously about bad timing. Kate finally breaks up with Joey after tiring of his lack of intellect. Adam again offers his love to a now-single Kate, but Kate, still wary of the timing, only accepts his friendship.
As the evening deadline for her copy approaches, Kate realizes that she cannot do Monique's assignment, and avoids being fired by voluntarily quitting on the spot with a hasty apology. Back at home, she prepares for a blind date with a man named Rob. A montage of everything Kate and Adam went through together -- the highs and the lows of their relationship -- plays in her mind. The scene then cuts to another gallery opening of Adam's. Kate shows up, having realized that the timing is finally right and that she and Adam were meant to be. Adam and Kate reconcile with a kiss and begin their relationship afresh, each a little wiser for the wear.
Famke Janssen
Famke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...
and Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau
Jonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...
.
Cast
- Kate Welles - Famke JanssenFamke JanssenFamke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...
- Adam Levy - Jon FavreauJon FavreauJonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...
- Eric - Noah EmmerichNoah EmmerichNoah Nicholas Emmerich is an American film actor who first broke out in the film Beautiful Girls. He was later seen in movies like The Truman Show, Cop Land, Frequency, Love & Sex, Windtalkers, Miracle, Super 8 and Little Children.-Early life:Emmerich was born in New York City to a Jewish family,...
- Monique Steinbacher - Ann MagnusonAnn MagnusonAnn Magnuson is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer who first gained prominence in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan...
- Mary - Cheri OteriCheri OteriCheri Oteri is an American comic actress, best known for her roles as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2000.-Personal life:...
- Joey Santino - Josh HopkinsJosh HopkinsWilliam Joshua Hopkins is an American actor.-Career:Hopkins joined the fourth, and last season, of New York Undercover in 1998. In 1999 Hopkins starred in Alanis Morissette's "Unsent" music video...
- Gerard Boussard - Robert KnepperRobert KnepperRobert Lyle Knepper is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox network's drama series Prison Break, for which he was nominated a Satellite Award...
- Richard Miltner - Vincent VentrescaVincent VentrescaVincent Paul Gerard Ventresca is an American actor, best known for playing Darien Fawkes on SCI FI's The Invisible Man .-Early years:...
- Tiny Man - David SteinbergDavid SteinbergDavid Steinberg is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was one of the best-known stand-up comics in the United States...
- Jerome Davis - Elimu NelsonElimu NelsonElimu Nelson is an African-American film and television actor. His latest film in which he has a major role is Love Don't Cost a Thing. He has had supporting roles in movies such as Dance Flick, Love & Sex, The Hard Easy, and Unspeakable....
- Woman in Gallery (cameoCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
) - Claudia ChristianClaudia ChristianClaudia Ann Christian is an American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director, best known for her role as Commander Susan Ivanova on the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Career:... - Jehovah's Witness (cameo) - David SchwimmerDavid SchwimmerDavid Lawrence Schwimmer is an American actor and director of television and film. He was born in New York City, and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was two. He began his acting career performing in school plays at Beverly Hills High School. In 1988, he graduated from Northwestern...
Plot Synopsis
When her rather explicit copy on oral sexOral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
is rejected, magazine journalist Kate Welles (Famke Janssen
Famke Janssen
Famke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...
) is told by her editor, Monique (Ann Magnuson
Ann Magnuson
Ann Magnuson is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer who first gained prominence in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan...
), to write an article on loving relationships instead -- and to do so by the end of the day or face being fired. This gets Kate thinking back over her own various misadventures searching for love over the years, and wondering if she is in much of a position to write on the subject.
Kate's first relationship, a playground romance in grade school with a boy named Bobby, ends when Kate's friend spills the details of their relationship to the entire school, humiliating Bobby. Kate goes on to lose her virginity to her ineloquent high school French teacher, Mr. Boussard, whom she accidentally insinuates has a small penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
. Kate's next relationship, in college while attending UCLA, is with another older man, a music video director named Eric. Things go well with Eric for several weeks until Eric's wife and child show up unannounced while he and Kate are about to have sex; unaware that Eric was married with children, Kate storms off, heartbroken.
Kate meets the love of her life, Adam Levy (Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau
Jonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...
), while attending the latter's art show while on a date with Richard, a boring, miserable stand-up comedian. Adam steals Kate away from Richard effortlessly. The two become instant best friends over the course of their first date, and begin living together as a happy couple thereafter. On the eve of their one-year anniversary, Kate reveals that she is pregnant; the two decide to bring the baby to term, but Kate suffers a painful miscarriage a few weeks later, to the emotional distress of both.
Over the next few months, the honeymoon period of Kate and Adam's relationship comes to an end, as each reveals personality traits that annoy the other. This finally culminates one night when Adam realizes that he is not happy in their relationship any longer -- in his words, the timing is just off -- and he wants to break up. Kate, devastated that her first successful relationship is ending, seesaws between feigned relief that they are breaking up, and her actual heartbreak. Adam moves out and begins dating other women, further distressing Kate. Kate ups the ante by becoming involved with other men simply to make Adam jealous, which slowly begins to work. After numerous fights, Kate and Adam admit that they must stop intentionally hurting each other if any friendship is to be kept between them.
Kate meets a dimwitted but good-natured B-list Hollywood actor named Joey Santino, and begins to date him. Adam's relationships with other women fizzle out, and as Kate and Joey grow more serious, he begins to realize that Kate was the right woman for him all along. Adam pleads and negotiates with Kate to take him back, but Kate refuses, reiterating what Adam said previously about bad timing. Kate finally breaks up with Joey after tiring of his lack of intellect. Adam again offers his love to a now-single Kate, but Kate, still wary of the timing, only accepts his friendship.
As the evening deadline for her copy approaches, Kate realizes that she cannot do Monique's assignment, and avoids being fired by voluntarily quitting on the spot with a hasty apology. Back at home, she prepares for a blind date with a man named Rob. A montage of everything Kate and Adam went through together -- the highs and the lows of their relationship -- plays in her mind. The scene then cuts to another gallery opening of Adam's. Kate shows up, having realized that the timing is finally right and that she and Adam were meant to be. Adam and Kate reconcile with a kiss and begin their relationship afresh, each a little wiser for the wear.
Awards and nominations
- Best Screenplay, Independent Spirit AwardsIndependent Spirit AwardsThe Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
(2001) -- Valerie Breiman (nominated)
Soundtrack
Sourced from IMDB- "It's Alright" (Phil RoyPhil RoyPhil Roy is an American musician, singer, and songwriter.-Early musical career:Roy was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began playing the guitar at age nine. At age 17, attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts...
) - "It's Alright" instrumental version (Heitor PereiraHeitor PereiraHeitor Teixeira Pereira , or Heitor TP, is a Brazilian musician, who played with Simply Red and several famous musicians, like Elton John, Rod Stewart, k.d...
) - "Giving" (Marc FordMarc FordMarc Ford , is an American blues-rock guitarist. He's a former lead guitarist of the rock and roll jam band The Black Crowes and the leader of his own bands .-Burning Tree:Ford began his career with the blues-rock outfit Burning...
) - "Ladyfinger" (ConvoyConvoy (band)Convoy was a short lived San Diego, California rock band. After independently releasing Pineapple Recording Sessions, the group was signed to Hybrid Recordings...
) - "Bumpkin" (Dig)
- "Suffer Me" (Todd ThibaudTodd ThibaudTodd Thibaud is a singer-songwriter based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a co-founder of the group Courage Brothers, a power pop group of the early 1990s, before establishing himself as a solo musician in the late 1990s and 2000s.-Biography:...
) - "Retro Sexy" (Chuckle Head)
- "Star Sax" (Steve Jeffries)
- "Under the Light of the Moon" (The Merrymakers)
- "Adrenalin" (Eric Caspar)
- "Go Down Easy" (Over the Rhine)
- "Carry Me" (Tim EastonTim EastonTim Easton is a Joshua Tree, California-based American guitarist and singer-songwriter playing rock and roll music.-Biography:Easton was raised in Akron, Ohio, forming the band Kosher Spears while at college. He travelled abroad for a time, busking in London, Paris, and Dublin, and on his return to...
) - "Monster" (Weaklazyliar)
- "Here's Lookin at You" (ConvoyConvoy (band)Convoy was a short lived San Diego, California rock band. After independently releasing Pineapple Recording Sessions, the group was signed to Hybrid Recordings...
)