THE OPPOSITE SEX AND HOW TO LIVE WITH THEM
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Date Released: 3/26/93 Running Length: 1:29 Rated: R (Language, sexual situations)
Starring: Arye Gross, Courteney Cox, Kevin Pollak, Julie Brown Director: Matthew Meshekoff Producers: Robert Newmyer and Stanley M. Brooks Screenplay: Noah Stern Music: Ira Newborn Released by Miramax Films
From the moment of their first meeting, David (Arye Gross) and Carrie (Courteney Cox) are hopelessly attracted to each other. THE OPPOSITE SEX chronicles their first date, early relationship, first night together, and other aspects of their relationship. Kevin Pollak plays Eli, David's best friend and Julie Brown is Zoe, Carrie's roommate. These two occasionally help, but more often hinder, the developing attachment between David and Carrie.
THE OPPOSITE SEX is an extremely funny and surprisingly insightful look into the mating game. Similar in style to SINGLES (although this film was made first), THE OPPOSITE SEX concentrates on one relationship instead of several. Its depiction of the various stages of David and Carrie's courtship is filled with little details that movies often find unimportant but which are critical to real-life situations. Many of these are approached from a humorous vantage, but much of the comedy is successful because the circumstances are so true-to-life.
As for the humor in the film, it ranges from wit and satire to belly- laughs. Some of the best moments come when characters break the fourth wall, turning to address the audience in the middle of a scene with occasionally side-splitting asides. Two of many amusing instances involve a profane-but-hilarious parody of FIELD OF DREAMS' catch phrase, "If you build it, he will come," and a sequence where David and Carrie become subjects of a nature film crew doing a program on human mating habits. Also memorable, although far less humorous, is a takeoff of ABC's NIGHTLINE. Kevin Pollak does an impressive Ted Koppel.
As irreverent as the movie frequently is, it has a lot to say about relationships. As a result, THE OPPOSITE SEX has more depth than might initially be supposed. It isn't just another run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, but one with bite and backbone.
The main cast of four all do fine jobs. None are well-known actors, although Kevin Pollak has become more recognizable following his role in A FEW GOOD MEN. Courteney Cox and Arye Gross manage to find the right balance between drama and comedy to bring across real-seeming, sympathetic characters. One of the great intangibles, their chemistry, is flawless. Julie Brown and Kevin Pollak, often serving as a kind of "Greek Chorus" to detail the activities of their friends to the audience, are equally as proficient.
The production team of THE OPPOSITE SEX should be congratulated. They have created a fresh, inventive comedy that is definitely worth a look. It's a wonder why it took Miramax so long to pick up the movie for distribution, and a sad fact of life that, given the relative lack of publicity, it won't be in theaters for long. Nevertheless, there's no denying that THE OPPOSITE SEX is a pleasant surprise.
Rating: 8.7 (A-, ***)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews