The Opposite of Sex
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: May 22, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Even some third-act deus ex machina scrambling can't homogenize the film's darkly cynical punch. Tough as nails and twice as hilarious, it's a remedy for summer treacle. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
This 1998 movie is essentially a compilation of things-aren't-what-they-seem games played on the viewer; all its little tricks, including Ricci's snide and smart-alecky voice-overs about movie conventions, are really old--except one. But it's not worth the wait. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The De-Dee character subverts those expectations; she shoots the legs out from under the movie with perfectly timed zingers. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
For all Ricci's zingers, the actress who gets the most laughs here is Kudrow, who has an amazingly right-on offbeat comic sense and rhythm. Playing a bright, sexually repressed Indiana teacher, she displays priceless timing. [19 June 1998]
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Uneven but always energetic and sometimes very funny. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Traffics in the coyly blasphemous, aren't-we-dysfunctional family-disaster chic that has become the single most annoying trend in independent filmmaking. Read full review
60
Film ThreatRon Wells
It's an excellent date film, but it won't change your life. Read full review
70
Film.comJohn Hartl
For all the cynicism on the soundtrack and the occasional lapses in tone, this is a remarkably generous comedy.
90
Film.comTom Keogh
[Roos's] dialogue (including an on-and-off voiceover by Ricci's pregnant, runaway sociopath) has a ringing clarity, his satire is low-key but quite real, and his actors mesh so perfectly you'd swear they rehearsed for months before shooting.
100
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Sex holds in perfect tonal balance, and without cynicism, a brew of maliciously transgressive comedy and tender sympathy for its tortured characters, all gripped by terror of love, or sex, or both. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKristine McKenna
A brilliantly written black comedy in the tradition of "To Die For" and "Flirting With Disaster," The Opposite of Sex was worth the wait. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsDave Kehr
Opposite attracts with its wit.
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Denby
Dedee is a great, entertaining caricature, an updated teen version of a forties-noir seductress and murderess -- Lana Turner without corsets... Ricci possesses a devastating way with a nasty line; she could curdle mother's milk from 30 paces. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The kind of daring feature that doesn't open every Friday at the local multiplex; its frank, sometimes politically incorrect approach towards the act and politics of sex is refreshing. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
The best scenes are of people talking -- and that's not just because the lines are so good. Roos doesn't seem to know what to do with his characters when they aren't blabbing. Read full review
100
San Francisco ExaminerG. Allen Johnson
A movie that has an odd plot, quirky characters and a real edge, but it's not in-your-face, a re-invention of a genre or a smirky independent. It's different because it's flat-out great. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
A truly unformulaic comedy of lust and greed, a farce that seems to write itself, slap-happily, as it goes along. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Consistently clever without ever being funny. The film is so in love with its own carefully calibrated outrageousness that it doesn't bother to give its characters any depth beyond sitcom-level stereotypes. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
You'll laugh, though you might hate yourself in the morning. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
What redeems the film's surface bitterness are sharp observations, laceratingly funny dialogue and something Dedee claims to find especially loathsome: a secret heart of gold. Read full review
100
TimeRichard Corliss
This is a declaration of love: The Opposite of Sex is the smartest, edgiest, most human and handsomely acted romantic comedy in elephant years. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The wonder of it all is how bitterly funny the complications are, especially as filtered through Dedee's monstrously self-centered voice-over. Read full review
50
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
The opposite of entertainment, a self-satisfied soap opera from hell. But anyone itchy to see Ricci in her fleshy glory will adore her femme fatale for the Jerry Springer age, a Stanwyck stoked on steroids and SweeTarts. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Roos’ talent for vivid, jump-off-the-screen dialogue remains unquestioned, but his direction is considerably more spotty. Read full review
100
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's a terrific movie. Read full review
20
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Very much like sex. On second thought, make that bad sex. Actually, sexual assault is more like it. It will leave you feeling used, bruised, violated, mistrustful and unclean. Read full review
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