Sex and Death 101
by Dan Waters
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DVD details
Actor: Julie Bowen, Marshall Bell, Patton Oswalt, Simon Baker, Winona RyderDirector: Dan Waters
Brand: BAKER,SIMON
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Enhanced, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-07-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Anchor Bay - ITN
DVD Reviews of Sex and Death 101
DVD Review: Where have you gone, Dan Waters?
Summary: 3 Stars
After seeing "Heathers" as a preteen (boy, that seems a long time ago) I made it my business to follow Dan Waters' career. After a brilliant dark comedy like "Heathers," you assumed he was going to continue to write screenplays equally as dark and caustic as that. But it didn't quite work out that way. Oddly enough, he became something of an action writer. The material was still dark and funny, but always with a big-budget action edge ("Ford Fairlane," "Hudson Hawk," "Batman Returns," "Demolition Man"). He wrote other projects -- an insane summer-camp script called "Happy Campers" (best described by Dan's brother as "the 'Apocalypse Now' of camp movies"), an amusing adaptation of "A Stranger in a Strange Land" and a blistering satire of the fashion industry by the name of "A Model Daughter" -- but many of them got stuck in development and never made. He did eventually direct "Happy Campers" on his own, but it was a disastrous, low-budget mess.
"Sex and Death 101" is certainly better than "Happy Campers," but it's not nearly as good as his earlier work, and it doesn't feel worth the six-year wait.
"S&D101" was just never all that funny to me. It's amusing, and you knew Dan would be good for an insightful rant or two about relationships and sex, but I can't actually remember ever laughing. That he dips into a disgusting bit of Farrelly-esque humor is just a little sad to me.
The premise is this: a man, about to get married, gets an E-mail with the names of every woman he's slept with and every woman he will eventually sleep with. The list essentially ruins him, as he seeks to find each woman and speed the process along. He becomes addicted to the list.
There's a parallel storyline about a female serial killer the press calls Death Nell, who preys on men who exploit or hurt women.
I think the flaw of this movie comes in its casting and its story structure.
Simon Baker is a good-looking guy, but boyishly so. He has that innocuous smile that makes it hard to dislike him. He's pretty, but not sexy. He doesn't really look like the type of guy women would fall head over heels in lust with. I also find his character a little confusing. When we first meet him, he's about to get married to a domineering and aggressive woman. If he has such a rotund libido to satisfy, why is he settling? The story of the list becomes a chicken/egg thing for me. It almost seems like getting the list causes the licentiousness (since he basically just walks into a bar, sees someone on the list, and the person falls for him like they're under a spell) than the other way around.
The most interesting thing about the movie is Death Nell. With swollen red lips pushing out through hanging curtains of jet-black hair, Winona Ryder has never looked sexier. It's really great to see her in this type of role again. She's always had a bit of a mysterious edge to her. She presents an almost casual air to her murders.
It turns out Nell (or Gillian De Raisx) was a wife abused by a bizarre husband who liked for her to dress up in different costumes and then beat her. He accidentally dies one night and Gillian decides she needs to help the women of the world out by removing a few of the bad men. (Waters and Ryder get in a great "Heathers" reference when Gillian furiously scrawls in her journal.)
As you probably know already, the final name on Roderick's list is Gillian De Raisx. Will it be death or love that makes her the last?
Once Roderick decides to face his fate and go after Gillian, this movie really kicks into gear. The problem is that it happens an hour too late. I personally think the bulk of the movie -- as Roderick discovers and experiences the ups and downs of the list -- could have been accomplished in short order. I would have much rather seen Gillian and Roderick connect, with her not knowing he's aware of who she is. He would be in a position of not knowing if she's going to kill him at any moment. And she would have to decide if she was really in love or if it wasn't just easier to kill a man than work through a relationship with him. Waters actually had something similar to this -- playing with the idea that you never truly know your partner -- in his unproduced "Catwoman" script.
This movie probably has the funniest end line of all time, but otherwise it never really comes alive. Dan Waters has always been better at showing the bad behavior of men through a woman's point of view. Here we're in a man's and it feels a little immature and artificial.
Outside of Ryder's performance, I consider this film a letdown.
DVD Review: This was purely trash rating -0
Summary: 1 Stars
This was such a por taste film I greatly regret buying it... for shame! It is in poor tase and foul!DVD Review: Surprisingly Deep at Times
Summary: 4 Stars
There was a segment of this film that I really enjoyed and it caused me to rate this movie as 4 instead of a 3.
In part of the film, Simon Baker's character is confronted with a woman who is just as creative, attractive and interesting as he is who is not certain whether or not she wants a platonic or romantic relationship with him. This section speaks to everyone: we have all had the one person in our life that we think would be perfect for us romantically --- but whom, because of timing, emotional confusion or lack of interest doesn't feel the same way. This film showcases the beauty and frustration of this sort of relationship from beginning to end in a dark, funny and heartbreaking way.
I can't tell you how many times I have watched a romantic comedy and the tension of unrequited love is resolved unrealistically when the reluctant or resistant girl or guy eventually being swept off his/her feet by a crazy public display of affection or some ridiculous plot twist. Truthfully, only "When Harry Met Sally" and "500 Days of Summer" seem to get their unrequited love plots "right."
But this film tries in its own whimsical way to capture this, too and I give it kudos for that.
DVD Review: very uneven
Summary: 2 Stars
Bought it, saw it, not impressed. Much of this story simply does not fit together. Some of the acting was good but much was just passable. And the story simply doesn't workDVD Review: Odd, Wicked and Very Cool
Summary: 5 Stars
A strange comedy. Written by the same guy who wrote the successful Heathers and the terrible Hudson Hawk, this is a film about a successful businessman, Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) who has it all and who receives an anonymous email with a list of 101 womens' names. He discovers he has slept with the first 29 on the list and the rest are women he will sleep with. He dumps his fiancee and proceeds to seek out the others on the list and do the deed. As an aside, Winona Ryder plays Death Nell who sleeps with random men and puts them into a coma. She is the last on list and when Roderick finds this out, he prepares to meet his fate.
This is sometimes jaw dropping. You will find yourself bursting out laughing despite yourself. It does have a rather cheap quality to the filming and is overly long but the main characters do a good job. If you're only viewing of Simon Baker is as The Mentalist, then prepare to be shocked. He is witty, cool and brings a likeability to a character you should really loathe. And he is very easy on the eye. However, how Winona Ryder continues to get work is one of life's mysteries.
Description of Sex and Death 101
Roderick Blank, Simon Baker, is a successful modern man, content with his personal and professional life. However, a week before his wedding to a suitably stuffy fiancee, Rodericks perfectly planned existence is upended by a mysterious e-mail containing the names of every woman he has had sex with and, eerily, every woman he will have sex with in the future. He is stopped in his tracks when he meets a femme fatale, Winona Ryder, who targets men guilty of sex crimes against women. Co-starring Patton Oswalt and directed by Daniel Waters, writer of the cult hit Heathers.Sex and Death 101 presents an intriguing premise: If you were given a list of all the people you were destined to sleep with, would you give up what you currently have to fulfill that prophecy? That's exactly what happens to Roderick Blank (Simon Baker, The Devil Wears Prada, The Mentalist), who is engaged to a beautiful woman. But when he receives an anonymous message stating that he will sleep with 101 women in his lifetime--and she is but 29th on the list--he throws his life into turmoil. A dark comedy from Daniel Waters, who also penned the superb Heathers, Sex and Death 101 doesn't have the effortless flow of Waters' breakthrough film. His muse Winona Ryder returns as a disturbed woman with a jones for Roderick and a penchant for the darker side of life. But she is given too little to do to make much of an impact on the meandering plot. Much of the dialogue does little to help the matter. "Life is a lot like death," Roderick says. "It happens to everyone, whether they like it or not." The problem with Sex and Death 101 is that the line between life and death often isn't discernible. Baker and Ryder have both fared better in stronger projects. The bright spot in this movie is Mindy Cohn (The Facts of Life), who plays Roderick's put upon assistant Trixie. She proves to be more interesting and endearing than the leads, and adds wry humor to what could've been a thankless role. --Jae-Ha Kim
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