Erika Tracy, the artist and provocateur at the heart of “I Want Your Sex,” may be the most quotable fictional female executive since Miranda Priestly “that’s all-ed” her way into film history.
Yes, sure, it is a little strange to compare a very buttoned-up character in a mass-audience, PG-13-rated movie with one in a very R-rated movie who is often topless, in bondage or toting a sex object around as an accessory. But like Miranda, Erika, brought to vibrant life by Olivia Wilde, has a withering glare, a commanding presence and killer timing. In fact, it is difficult to imagine anyone else in the role — nor would you want to.
This playfully provocative comedy about sex and generational divides from New Queer Cinema pioneer Gregg Araki (in theaters Friday), really lives and dies on the plausibility of Erika Tracy. She could have very easily just been an eccentric cartoon. While “I Want Your Sex” takes nothing terribly seriously, you do have to buy the many outrageous things she says, and to care a bit about how and why she ends up floating naked, unconscious, face-down and likely dead, in her pool. If you are going to reference “Sunset Boulevard” you might as well go big, right?
The noirish mystery propelling the narrative isn’t even really the point. Instead, Araki, who shares writing credits with Karley Sciortino, wants to talk about sex and the well-documented lack thereof among members of Generation Z. But, you know, in a sharp, humorous and outlandish way.
In the spirit of going big, this is a movie that takes on Gen Z’s crisis of intimacy in the wildest and most inappropriate of ways: a sex-only, dom-sub relationship between an employer and her younger employee Elliot, played by Cooper Hoffman. It was all consensual, he stresses over and over again to the detectives (Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho) interviewing him. But it does also kind of ruin his life, at least for a little bit.
Elliot is quite awkward, perhaps the least likely candidate for someone like Erika to hand-select for this anything-but-straightforward arrangement. He lives with his best friend Apple (Chase Sui Wonders) and has a girlfriend, Minerva, (Charli xcx).
But no one seems to be having sex. When Elliot proposes a little celebration after scoring the job at Erika’s gallery, Minerva complains that they just did it 11 days ago.
But his imagination is active and, soon, with Erika, the fantasies become real. Of course, it is only a matter of time before things get messy — there’s blood, tears, betrayal and maybe even murder. It is also self-consciously garish, an over-the-top satire of the art world and the personalities who encompass it, but the world is never not compelling, with fun supporting performances from the likes of Daveed Diggs and Mason Gooding. Wonders is also terrific, a ball of neuroses and repression, envious of Elliot’s exploits.
I’m not sure it reaches any profound conclusion about its topic, nor is it really trying to.
“Sex is everything,” Erika says. “It’s also nothing.”
Perhaps it’s just trying to remind everyone to lighten up.
But it is a terrific platform for Wilde, who as an actor Hollywood never quite knew how to use properly. Often, the movies just wanted her to be hot, ignoring her obvious intelligence and comedic prowess. Araki’s film figures out how to use all her qualities in wildly entertaining fashion. It would make a natural double feature with her own directorial effort, “The Invite,” which adds to the modern sex conversation but also shows another side to her talents and range. Wilde, it turns out, is a world-class comedienne who is, two decades into her career, coming into her own.
“I Want Your Sex,” a Magnolia Pictures release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “graphic nudity, strong sexual content and pervasive language.” Running time: 90 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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