SINOPSIS
Romantična komedija o ljubavnim jadima dvoje mladih ljudi koji su jednom bili zajedno, rastavili se, a zatim tri godine proveli opirući se činjenici da su totalno ludi jedno za drugom; niskobudžetni nezavnisni film koji je bio najveće iznenađenje festivala u Sundanceu 2000. Godine i koji je pobudio nepodijeljeno zanimanje velikih distributera. Kate Welles (Famke Janssen) novinarka je koja od svoje urednice redovito dobiva zadatke pisati o ljubavi i seksu. Veliki problem predstavlja joj to što je potpuno frustrirana svojim privatnim životom i muškarcima koji prolaze kroz njega. Pišući novi tekst, Kate se prisjeća svojih bivših ljubavnika, počevši od prvih iskustava s vremešnoim profesorom francuskog, zatim kratke avanture s Ericom koji joj se činio savršenim sve dok nije otkrila da joj je zaboravio spomenuti svoju ženu i dijete. Nakon što je upoznala Adama (Jon Favreau) njezin život je ipak poprimio sretniji tijek. Zabavan, duhovit, inteligentan i pun razumijevanja, Adam ipak nakon nekog vremena zajedničkog života ostavlja Kate zbog straha od braka i želje za isprobavanjem novih stvari"
If "Love & Sex" contained nothing else, it would pass into memory for a pickup line that is either fatal or inspired, I am still trying to decide which: "You have those long E.T. fingers, like a tree frog." These words are spoken by Adam, an artist, to Kate, a bimbo savant, on their first date. She fires back by telling him his head is too big. It will be like this for most of the movie: Love at first sight reduces itself to second thoughts and one-liners. If it werent being released unrated, which translates to adults only, the movie might be fun for younger teenagers who want to be reassured that people in their 30s still behave like younger teenagers.
Kate is played by Famke Janssen, from "X-Men" and the James Bond film "GoldenEye," who confesses that she wears a Size 11 shoe--a line usually reserved for the man in a movie like this. Adam is played by Jon Favreau, a versatile actor recently seen as the pit-bull lineman in "The Replacements." Both of them show they can play characters a lot smarter than we associate them with. They dont play them, but they show they can.
Their dialogue examines the mechanics and technicalities of sex and love in the same way HBOs "Sex and the City" does, but at a reduced level of sophistication and self-knowledge. Kate and Adam may be chronologically adult, but they behave on dates the way they probably did in high school.
Kate is a magazine writer, recently fired by the editor of a womens magazine for writing an article about oral sex that presumed to describe it rather than snicker about it. Ironic, since in its own consideration of sex the movie also snickers and withdraws. She goes to an art opening with her current squeeze, a stand-up comic, and Adam falls in love with her from across the room. He red dogs her, and soon theyre having dinner, exchanging insults and sharing intimate moments, like passing gas in bed and having conversations like: "When I look at you like this, it looks like you only have one eye."
"Thank you."
The film is told from Kates point of view. Its a cautionary tale about love (which, she explains, we fall into because nothing feels better) and relationships, which, we gather, end because nothing feels worse.
In an early sharing of confidences, they reveal how many sexual partners theyve had. Adam has had two. Kate has had 13. My best guess is theyre both lying, but never mind: Adam cant get over Kates cheerful promiscuity. It becomes clear that his feelings are clouded and she intuits: "Its the 13 guys, isnt it?" Then she starts dating a basketball player, just to make him jealous.
The thing is, nothings at stake here. Adam and Kate dont have enough weight and complexity for us to care about them. Theyre pawns in the hands of writer-director Valerie Breiman, who hides them in a thicket of sitcom clutter. When they break up and he sends a drum-pounding midget to her office with an apologetic offering, were not seeing Kate and Adam, but Lucy and Ricky. A movie like John Cusacks "High Fidelity" acts as a rebuke to "Love & Sex" by showing the real quirks and self-punishments of the romantically unsuccessful.
