RICHARD’S BLOG

recent posts

I became a playwright in 1996, having been an avid theatregoer throughout my life (averaging around 120 plays a year – watching, not writing!) I semi-retired from my day job shortly thereafter and for the next 25 years I worked only part-time, allowing me time to write. I ventured briefly into the world of television and wrote a couple of screenplays, although this pretty much came to nothing, except for TAPS making a short film of one of my scripts starring (a virtually unknown) Benedict Cumberbatch and Georgia Mackenzie, which was cool, and sufficient to get me BAFTA membership. Since the pandemic, theatre in the UK has never really found its way back to what it used to be, and so my attention has drifted more towards film. I am now fully retired from my day job and whilst I still visit the theatre two or three times a month, I now watch upwards of 500 films a year (crazy, but true!) Since I watch so many films and can write, I decided to create a blog – it seemed a very 21st-Century thing to do.

REVIEW: I Want Your Sex ★☆☆☆☆

I Want Your Sex is a 2026 American erotic comedy thriller film directed by Gregg Araki, who co-wrote the screenplay with Karley Sciortino. It had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and was released in the UK last Friday, 28 August.

Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde) is found floating naked and unconscious in her pool by her 23-year-old lover Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) – the opening scene of Sunset Boulevard inverted.  Then a caption takes us back to 9 ½ weeks earlier. Successful artist Erika is interviewing Elliot for a role as a new assistant in her studio. He gets the job and a few days later she tells him that she wants sex. He seems keen, because although he has a girlfriend, he is not getting any at home. Their relationship quickly takes on a DOM/sub dynamic and whilst Erika is clearly very experienced, Elliot is completely out of his depth. As things develop, things move from consensual to non-consensual to outright abuse. And then we find our way back to the swimming pool. There is a frame-narrative which involves the hapless Elliot being interviewed by the most unlikely looking pair of detectives you are ever likely to see.

None of the characters were particularly believable, although Olivia Wilde made a good effort with the appalling script she was given to work with. The story was very predictable, and the twist was easier to spot than a tornado in a dustbowl. The camerawork was lazy and there were some particularly poor attempts to convey visually what was in the imagination of the characters. And as for comedy, it was juvenile in the extreme: remember the 9 ½ weeks mentioned above? (snigger, snigger!) well, that was about the level of the humour. However, none of these things was the real problem – unfortunately it was just very dull. I wanted it to end before it was even halfway through, I was so utterly bored.

I heard someone compare the director, Gregg Araki, to Pedro Almodóvar – ridiculous! Almodóvar understands the words erotic, comedy and thriller and knows how to make them work together in a film. The only comparison which could be valid that I can think of is: Araki is nowhere near as good as Almodóvar!

I Want Your Sex is a thoroughly bad film. Don’t waste your time and money!

Posted in

Leave a comment