Sex Lies and Videotape

Four Stars

This is the third time I have seen this movie, but it only seems to get better. Sex, Lies and Videotape is a representation of any normal situation in life, with a few quirks. This movie has a skeletal structure that lends itself to so many romantic comedies that have reproduced throughout pop culture. The adulterous husband, siblings that just barely get along, the mysterious stranger, all these things could come straight from the Hollywood rom-com press, but Sex, Lies is by no means a romantic comedy.

Sex, Lies does include humor that becomes more apparent on the second or third time through. Unlike the romantic comedies, this humor is sad, almost ironic in some cases. The downplayed delivery by the actors allows the punch lines to remain more funny than sad. Of course this type of humor seems completely appropriate, almost expected when the entirety of the movie comes into focus.

The humor isn’t the only thing that sets this movie apart from Hollywood over-productions. The way the movie starts off with a female’s (the wife’s) voice superimposed over images of her cheating husband sets a fresh tone for the movie. This beginning coupled with the subject matter of an impotent college friend that gets off to women he has recorded talking about sex really screams, “Indie movie!”.

The only thing that remains remotely “Hollywood” is the ending. It’s by no means a happy ending, but it isn’t a sad one either. The movie’s final scene though mundane, ending in a pseudo-metaphorical discussion of the weather, creates the feeling that time simply continues on. No Hollywood sunset and no Happily Ever After.

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