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Let's Talk About Sex

From writer/director/actress Troy Beyer comes this odd, sexy little pseudo-documentary about mating, dating, relating and man-hating in post-Paglia America. Beyer's Jasmine is an ambitious video artist who has exactly three days to shoot a demo for her proposed talk show about women and sex: GirlTalk. She manages to interview hundreds of young women in Miami with the help of her roommates, the icy but promiscuous Michelle (Paget Brewster) and the tawny, leonine Lina (Randi Ingerman, who bears a haunting resemblance to a young Tina Louise).

Framing the often hilarious, scarily familiar testimonials about butts, bikini lines, and blow jobs, the film spins a narrative meant to be its "real" (though, to us, fictional) center. Jasmine regrets breaking her engagement, Lina gets used by a scruffy stud muffin, and lonely Michelle seethes like a disgruntled dominatrix. These moments of angst are mirrored in the videotaped snippets, wherein tearful, angry women ponder their own stupidity and self-loathing following painful break-ups. This documentary footage is more engaging than the film's storyline; and yet the acting here rescues the occasionally melodramatic screenplay again and again. Beyer is a young talent who merits watching.

-- Peg Aloi