Movie · 1998 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 45m · R · English
Curator score: 5.0/10 (22.4K ratings)
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be offended
Overview
A 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus wreaking havoc on all of their lives.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.0/10
IMDb: 6.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Metacritic: 69
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Don Roos
Production
Rysher Entertainment, David Kirkpatrick Productions, Michael Besman Productions
Cast
Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan, Lisa Kudrow, Lyle Lovett, Johnny Galecki, William Lee Scott, Ivan Sergei, Megan Blake, Colin Ferguson, Dan Bucatinsky, Chauncey Leopardi, Rodney Eastman, Heather Fairfield, Amy Atkins, Leslie Grossman, Emily Newman, Harrison Young, Pancho Demmings, Terry L. Rose, Richard Moore
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, nasty, and often very funny late-90s indie farce with strong performances and a real bite, but its satire is uneven and some of its sexual politics can feel more abrasive than insightful today.
Best for
Viewers who like dark, dialogue-driven relationship comedies
Fans of queer-leaning indie films with a cynical edge
People who enjoy morally chaotic characters making terrible choices
Anyone interested in Christina Ricci or Lisa Kudrow at their most offbeat
Skip if
You want a warm, affirming LGBTQ comedy
You’re sensitive to homophobic or biphobic material used for satire
You prefer clean tonal control over messy, confrontational storytelling
You dislike characters who are intentionally selfish and destructive
Overview
The Opposite of Sex is a caustic little grenade of a movie: rude, wounded, and frequently very funny. Don Roos builds a chain-reaction comedy out of bad decisions, sexual confusion, and emotional sabotage, with Christina Ricci giving the film its feral center and Lisa Kudrow stealing scenes with unexpectedly rich comic timing.
Worth noting
What makes it linger is the sense that the film is less interested in tidy morality than in the damage people do when they’re lonely, angry, and half-lying to themselves. That gives it a certain postmodern snap, but it also means the satire doesn’t always land cleanly, especially around queer identity and the era’s casual cruelty.
Bottom line
For viewers in the mood for a smart, acidic indie with a strong 1990s voice, it’s worth a look. For anyone expecting a straightforward or especially sensitive treatment of sexuality, it may feel more provocative than rewarding.
Top Letterboxd reviews
lily (3.5★) · 185 likes
"if there have to be gay people, at least there's enough of them to go around"
christina ricci narrating: i am going to create an environment so homophobic
Bela (2.5★) · 149 likes
If we took all the homophobic conversations out of the script we’d only get three minutes of film
D. (4.5★) · 116 likes
A should-be-classic example of postmodern storytelling, this mature, raucous I-don't-know-what-the-fuck-genre-this-is picture revels in its intelligence, led by a near-perfect screenplay from writer-director Don Roos (nominated for the WGA award--Oscar ignored it for reasons that are probably stupid) and ace performances from Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan and, most of all, Lisa Kudrow, showing off a surprising range as a character so common in everyday life often relegated to one line in the movies. This film is real, funny, unpredictable, entertaining and… more A should-be-classic example of postmodern storytelling, this mature, raucous I-don't-know-what-the-fuck-genre-this-is picture revels in its intelligence, led by a near-perfect screenplay from writer-director Don Roos (nominated for the WGA award--Oscar ignored it for reasons that are probably stupid) and ace performances from Christina Ricci, Martin Donovan and, most of all, Lisa Kudrow, showing off a surprising range as a character so common in everyday life often relegated to one line in the movies. This film is real, funny, unpredictable, entertaining and… more
ཐི༏ཋྀ ༻𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕪༺ ཐི༏ཋྀ (4.5★) · 111 likes
“when you go low i go lowER” ahh movie 😵💫
i can’t lie i had so much fun watching every character in this movie make horrible choices LOL
#ibelieveinChristinaRiccisupremacy 💃❤️🔥
Brian Formo (3.5★) · 97 likes
The Opposite of Sex was a grenade toss of jaded anti-everything from Old Queen writer-director Don Roos; what was then a grenade is now a total fucking minefield and would never be made today except by someone who tosses around words like "virtue signaling" and "SJW." Which is to say, I think this came from a place of queer solidarity and warped love in 1998, but now it says things that no one was and would be hijacked by jackals… more The Opposite of Sex was a grenade toss of jaded anti-everything from Old Queen writer-director Don Roos; what was then a grenade is now a total fucking minefield and would never be made today except by someone who tosses around words like "virtue signaling" and "SJW." Which is to say, I think this came from a place of queer solidarity and warped love in 1998, but now it says things that no one was and would be hijacked by jackals… more
1999 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 43m · R · Curator 7.8/10 (309.8K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus, Philo
A great companion piece for viewers who like acidic comedy built on selfishness, manipulation, and social warfare.
1994 · Comedy, Drama, Romance · 1h 46m · R · Curator 4.7/10 (45.3K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Paramount Plus Essential, Netflix Standard with Ads
Combines social embarrassment, emotional pain, and offbeat comedy in a way that rewards viewers who like prickly protagonists.
Topics
dark comedy, queer satire, relationship farce, indie drama, 1990s, caustic humor, family dysfunction, sexual politics, ensemble cast, moral mess