The Opposite of Sex
Encyclopedia
The Opposite of Sex is a 1998 film
written and directed by Don Roos
. It stars Christina Ricci
, Martin Donovan
and Lisa Kudrow
. The film marked departures for both Ricci and Kudrow, cast against type for the roles they were known for at the time (Ricci for adolescents in The Addams Family
and Casper
, Kudrow for being the resident airhead on Friends
).
, narrated by and centred around self-absorbed, manipulative
, cynical teenager Dedee Truitt (Ricci
), who runs away from home after her stepfather's funeral and moves in with her half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan
), a gay
teacher in a conservative, suburban community in Saint Joseph County
, Indiana
.
Dedee seduces Bill's young lover, Matt (Ivan Sergei
), then tricks him into believing he has impregnated her. In fact, the father of her child is her ex-boyfriend Randy Cates (William Lee Scott
). She and Matt elope, leaving Bill and the uptight Lucia (Lisa Kudrow
), the sister of Bill's deceased partner Tom, to track them down and sort out the mess. In the meantime, Matt's "bit on the side," Jason Bock (Johnny Galecki
), attempts to blackmail
Bill in order to track down Matt, claiming Bill sexually assaulted
him while he was a student. Bill and Lucia find Dedee and Matt, only to discover Dedee has stolen Tom's ashes and is holding them for ransom. Randy also finds Dedee; they inform Matt that they are taking the ashes and moving to have the baby elsewhere. They escape but soon get into an argument that leads to Dedee accidentally shooting Randy. She and Matt escape to Canada
, and Bill eventually finds them.
After giving birth to Randy Jr., Dedee returns Tom's ashes to Bill, apologizing for her actions in the past year. After a few months in prison, she moves back in with Bill, while Matt and Jason go traveling together, and Lucia marries her old friend Carl (Lyle Lovett
). Eventually, Dedee decides that Randy Jr. would be better off alone with Bill (who is now dating Dedee's parole officer) and runs away.
Narrating the ending, Dedee sarcastically concludes that sex is precisely the opposite of what people should want, leading as it does to kids, disease or, worst of all, relationships. At the end of the film, the vignettes of the various caring relationships among the characters show the opposite of superficial sexual gratification. Dedee leaves it to the viewer to imagine whether or not she returns to her family.
Janet Maslin in The New York Times
called it a "gleefully acerbic comedy." Christina Ricci's performance was considerably praised, she also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy. Roger Ebert
especially enjoyed the voice-over narration supplied in-character by Ricci, calling it "refreshing" and comparing it to Mystery Science Theater 3000
:
Overall, the film scored an 85% on the Rotten Tomatoes
site.
had been working on that had shut down when the lead actress left it, putting Roos in house-bound funk. He had a mental image of a woman throwing a chair into an open grave at a funeral and from that one image grew the script of The Opposite of Sex.
Production began on June 8, 1997 with the filming of a library scene between Kudrow and Donovan that would ultimately be cut from the finished film. The restaurant scene was shot at the closed Chasen's
restaurant site (Dan Bucatinsky
, Roos' life-partner, makes a cameo during this scene as the waiter).
1998 in film
-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
written and directed by Don Roos
Don Roos
Donald Paul Roos is an American screenwriter and film director.-Life and career:Roos was born in New York. He attended the University of Notre Dame in Indiana...
. It stars Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
, Martin Donovan
Martin Donovan
Martin Donovan is an American stage and film actor. He has had a long collaboration with the director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, including Trust , Surviving Desire , Simple Men , Flirt , Amateur , and The Book of Life...
and Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...
. The film marked departures for both Ricci and Kudrow, cast against type for the roles they were known for at the time (Ricci for adolescents in The Addams Family
The Addams Family (film)
The Addams Family is a 1991 American black comedy film based on the characters from the cartoon of the same name created by cartoonist Charles Addams....
and Casper
Casper (film)
Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...
, Kudrow for being the resident airhead on Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
).
Plot
The film is a black comedyBlack comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
, narrated by and centred around self-absorbed, manipulative
Psychological manipulation
Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
, cynical teenager Dedee Truitt (Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
), who runs away from home after her stepfather's funeral and moves in with her half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan
Martin Donovan
Martin Donovan is an American stage and film actor. He has had a long collaboration with the director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, including Trust , Surviving Desire , Simple Men , Flirt , Amateur , and The Book of Life...
), a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
teacher in a conservative, suburban community in Saint Joseph County
St. Joseph County, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 265,559 people, 100,743 households, and 66,792 families residing in the county. The population density was 581 people per square mile . There were 107,013 housing units at an average density of 234 per square mile...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
.
Dedee seduces Bill's young lover, Matt (Ivan Sergei
Ivan Sergei
Ivan Sergei is an American actor known for his work in television.-Personal life:Sergei was born Ivan Sergei Gaudio in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and is of Dutch and Italian descent. Ivan attended Hawthorne High School, where he was a member of the graduating class of 1989, and was a quarterback on...
), then tricks him into believing he has impregnated her. In fact, the father of her child is her ex-boyfriend Randy Cates (William Lee Scott
William Lee Scott
William Lee Scott is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of dim-witted high school student Stanley "Bullethead" Kuznocki on the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show...
). She and Matt elope, leaving Bill and the uptight Lucia (Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...
), the sister of Bill's deceased partner Tom, to track them down and sort out the mess. In the meantime, Matt's "bit on the side," Jason Bock (Johnny Galecki
Johnny Galecki
John Mark "Johnny" Galecki is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as David Healy in the ABC sitcom Roseanne, Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and as Leonard Hofstadter in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.-Early life:Galecki was born in Bree, Belgium, of...
), attempts to blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
Bill in order to track down Matt, claiming Bill sexually assaulted
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
him while he was a student. Bill and Lucia find Dedee and Matt, only to discover Dedee has stolen Tom's ashes and is holding them for ransom. Randy also finds Dedee; they inform Matt that they are taking the ashes and moving to have the baby elsewhere. They escape but soon get into an argument that leads to Dedee accidentally shooting Randy. She and Matt escape to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Bill eventually finds them.
After giving birth to Randy Jr., Dedee returns Tom's ashes to Bill, apologizing for her actions in the past year. After a few months in prison, she moves back in with Bill, while Matt and Jason go traveling together, and Lucia marries her old friend Carl (Lyle Lovett
Lyle Lovett
Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...
). Eventually, Dedee decides that Randy Jr. would be better off alone with Bill (who is now dating Dedee's parole officer) and runs away.
Narrating the ending, Dedee sarcastically concludes that sex is precisely the opposite of what people should want, leading as it does to kids, disease or, worst of all, relationships. At the end of the film, the vignettes of the various caring relationships among the characters show the opposite of superficial sexual gratification. Dedee leaves it to the viewer to imagine whether or not she returns to her family.
Cast
- Christina RicciChristina RicciChristina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
as Dede Truitt - Martin DonovanMartin DonovanMartin Donovan is an American stage and film actor. He has had a long collaboration with the director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, including Trust , Surviving Desire , Simple Men , Flirt , Amateur , and The Book of Life...
as Bill Truitt - Lisa KudrowLisa KudrowLisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...
as Lucia De Lury - Lyle LovettLyle LovettLyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...
as Carl Tippett - Ivan SergeiIvan SergeiIvan Sergei is an American actor known for his work in television.-Personal life:Sergei was born Ivan Sergei Gaudio in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and is of Dutch and Italian descent. Ivan attended Hawthorne High School, where he was a member of the graduating class of 1989, and was a quarterback on...
as Matt Mateo - Johnny GaleckiJohnny GaleckiJohn Mark "Johnny" Galecki is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as David Healy in the ABC sitcom Roseanne, Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and as Leonard Hofstadter in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.-Early life:Galecki was born in Bree, Belgium, of...
as Jason Bock - William Lee ScottWilliam Lee ScottWilliam Lee Scott is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of dim-witted high school student Stanley "Bullethead" Kuznocki on the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show...
as Randy Cates - Colin FergusonColin Ferguson (actor)Colin Ferguson is a Canadian actor. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, and is a graduate of Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario and McGill University in Montreal....
as Tom De Lury
Reception
For its North American run, The Opposite of Sex took in film rentals of $5,881,367. The opening weekend saw a per screen average of $20,477 for the 5 theaters showing it.Janet Maslin in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it a "gleefully acerbic comedy." Christina Ricci's performance was considerably praised, she also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
especially enjoyed the voice-over narration supplied in-character by Ricci, calling it "refreshing" and comparing it to Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
:
When you've seen enough movies, alas, you can sense the gears laboriously turning, and you know with a sinking heart that there will be no surprises. The Dede character subverts those expectations; she shoots the legs out from under the movie with perfectly timed zingers. I hate people who talk during movies, but if she were sitting behind me in the theater, saying all of this stuff, I'd want her to keep right on talking.
Overall, the film scored an 85% on the Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
site.
Production
The film began in the aftermath of another film Don RoosDon Roos
Donald Paul Roos is an American screenwriter and film director.-Life and career:Roos was born in New York. He attended the University of Notre Dame in Indiana...
had been working on that had shut down when the lead actress left it, putting Roos in house-bound funk. He had a mental image of a woman throwing a chair into an open grave at a funeral and from that one image grew the script of The Opposite of Sex.
Production began on June 8, 1997 with the filming of a library scene between Kudrow and Donovan that would ultimately be cut from the finished film. The restaurant scene was shot at the closed Chasen's
Chasen's
Chasen's was a restaurant in West Hollywood, California that was a hangout for entertainment luminaries. Located at 9039 Beverly Boulevard near Beverly Hills, it was the site of the Academy Awards party for many years and was also known for its chili. In 1962 Liz Taylor had several orders of...
restaurant site (Dan Bucatinsky
Dan Bucatinsky
Dan Bucatinsky is an American actor, writer and film producer living in Los Angeles, California. He was born in New York City to Argentine parents, Julio and Myriam...
, Roos' life-partner, makes a cameo during this scene as the waiter).