The Opposite of Sex

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Teen rebels. They tend to be the ones that drive you nuts, get you into trouble and stab you in the back. But oddly enough, they’re usually the ones you will never forget long after you’ve known them. And in “The Opposite of Sex” Dedee (Christina Ricci) is a wild rebel at heart, and narrates the opening of this film well aware it is all an absurd story. She’s blunt, rude and shockingly savvy for a 16 year old. At the funeral of her step-father which opens proceedings, instead of sprinkling dirt on the coffin as her distraught mother does, she kicks the coffin and throws a chair on it. This was her way of saying “Fuck you Asshole” to her late step father, who died of cancer in the ass. Poetic justice. Dedee then runs away to track down her much older brother, as she needs a place to stay and wants to get her shit together.

Shacking up with her older brother Bill (Martin Donovan), who is gay, Dede takes a liking to his much younger partner Matt. As she just hangs around the house and he starts work later in the day, the two hang out a lot and over time and manipulation, Dede gets him to sleep with her. They fool around behind Bill’s back for a while (given he’s a school teacher and not around during the day) until they drop the bomb on him. Firstly, they admit to sleeping together, and to mix things up even more, Dede announces she is pregnant to Matt. He then comes out as being bi-sexual, and to heighten the pressure for all involved, the sister of Bill’s former partner, Lucia (played by Lisa Kudrow) arrives on the scene. She’s as conservative as they come, doesn’t like Dede and tries to convince Matt he’s only gay and not bisexual. Mind you, all of this occurs within the first fifteen minutes of the film, and it doesn’t really slow down at all for its duration. The story then goes into some strange and funny places, as Dede elopes with Matt, with a baby on the way, some stolen money, missing ashes from an urn and everyone after them to try and talk some sense into her.

The plot of this film is not overly-strong; rather, it is a unique character study. Dede is so well formed and in your face, her quirks and behaviours make this film very entertaining. Christina Ricci channels her inner-teen-brat perfectly, voicing her forceful opinions on the topics of men, women, sex and being gay in such a manipulative fashion, the other characters around her are defenceless against her sly, subversive ways. They all spill the beans on what they really think about almost anything, and she uses that to try and convince them they are the bitch or bastard, and not her. She’s dastardly clever, conniving and just a fun character to watch. 

A warning to some who could take offense, this film was made in the late nineties where the general feelings of most people towards homosexuality wasn’t as accepting as it is today. In her ongoing narration throughout the film, Dede makes many comments towards her brother and her new partner being gay, that are quite offensive and ignorant. If you can excuse that as just being part of her character and a reflection of the ignorance of widespread homophobia in the 90’s, then you will enjoy the film. 

Christina Ricci was everywhere in the 90’s, making the difficult transition from child actress to teen star very easily, due to the fact she was simply a strong actress. She would be most familiar to audiences as Wednesday, the daughter of Morticia and Gomez Addams in “The Addams Family” and “The Addams Family Values”. The second film is where she really shined and stole the show from her grownup counterparts. Ricci then graduated into more teenage fair in the late 90’s, starring in this little known Indie flick that seemed to be tailor made for her. Right from the very beginning, you know her character and feel like you’ve known her for ages. In her narration she delivers her most memorable line from the film, “I don’t have a heart of gold and I don’t grow one later, okay?” And that couldn’t be any truer of her. She’s a mean teenage girl, but you can’t help but love her for it. 

There is a lot to like about this film. The actors are all perfectly cast in their respective roles. Christina Ricci leads the way, but she’s joined by an eclectic ensemble cast, including Lisa Kudrow, Martin Donovan and even Country and Western singer Lyle Lovett show’s up. Yeah, who? Ned Flanders favourite actor for the real Simpson’s aficionado’s.  Johnny “Leonard” Galecki from “The Big Bang Theory” shows up too, as Matt’s other boyfriend Jason, who demands to know where he is after the young couple take off. When Bill has no answers for him, Jason spreads a rumour that Bill molested him back in school, which totally ruins Bills reputation and ends his career as a teacher.  Look, the story can get confusing with all these characters showing up with different agendas, and given they’re all such well written and three-dimensional characters, it makes for a great series of events and chance encounters along the way.

What attracted me to this film in my teens were a couple of things. Firstly, I liked Christina Ricci back then. Not like a crush (that was reserved for Drew Barrymore), but I enjoyed watching Ricci act. The title jumped off the cover of the video of course, and given I was about sixteen when I first watched this, you could say I was more than curious about the subject matter the film’s title refers to. I was getting into Arthouse and Independent cinema of the low-budget type, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and capturing the innovative, witty, creative and… Okay, I’ll come clean – I just wanted to see Christina Ricci’s boobs okay! There I admit it. But she doesn’t show them in the film. What a tease. Despite that initial disappointment, I really enjoyed the film and took it as another great little find in my movie searchings at Blockbuster Video one day. When I spoke about the film at school, no one my age had seen it let alone even heard of it. I guess they all did other things like play sports. Wierdo’s ;-)

“The Opposite of Sex” is a well-written, well-acted film that shifts easily between drama and black comedy. The characters are warped, the situation is ridiculous but the way it all comes together in the end is clever and believable. It’s a film that rewards you with it’s smart story telling and creative direction. I see it as one of the first films of my teens that showed I was starting to grow up a little bit; taking an interest in films that tackled story and character, over just stuff that was good to look at. It got me thinking and it’s always been a film I like to talk about with others. The films I review from here on, were all part of the later years of my teens, where the films were different because I was changing. See for yourself… 


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