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SEX AND DEATH 101
Written & Directed by Daniel Waters
Produced by Cary Brokaw, Lizzie Friedman & Greg Little
Director of Photography, Daryn Okada
Edited by Trudy Ship
Music by Rolfe Kent
Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment Release
USA. 100 min. Rated R
With Simon Baker, Winona Ryder, Leslie Bibb, Julie Bowen, Sophie Monk, Mindy Cohn, Dash Mihok, Neil Flynn & Patton Oswalt

One might hope that in Sex and Death 101, Daniel Waters’ first writing/directing outing since 2001’s Happy Campers (never heard of it, me neither, it went straight to video), might return him to his most fruitful period as the writer behind Heathers, a cynical high school dark comedy with some guts behind its wit.

His new film posits that our fates are dictated not by a God, per say, but by a mysterious super computer run by (almost) indifferent and identically suited men in an all-white room out of the Matrix movies. Among the computer’s tabulations: a list of every woman self-absorbed husband-to-be Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) has slept with or will in the future. By a glitch in the system, this advertising executive is accidentally sent his list via email.

He has 29 names of women he’s previously bedded, and another 60+ future partners. Armed with this information, Blank calls off his marriage, and goes through dozens of women at a very fast clip. But the same group of men governing the super computer also acknowledge that there is the opposite side of the coin – they also, sometimes, send an email by (by accident, of course) on the day someone is going to die.

There is an opportunity here for Waters to subvert the romantic comedy genre, in this case the convention of the vain, devilish lothario (Baker, in a slight reprisal of his persona from The Devil Wears Prada) who learns that being with one woman is just enough to be happy after sleeping with lots and lots of beautiful women. Despite the promise behind the premise, and the possible existential hijinks, this is not to be. Baker might have some charm, but he never makes his Roderick Blank even halfway likeable. Blank chases as many girls as he can, smugly, but he is meant to be seen as decent by the time he snaps out of his trek. It becomes all the more irritating as we’re meant to be rooting for him to triumph against the last name on his to-be-sexed list. (It may be a spoiler to reveal more, but it’s hard not to see it a mile away). Not many of the supporting players help either, only providing intermittent guffaws.

It’s not that Waters doesn’t provide some moments of ingenuity or some smart casting. For the former, there is one rip-roaring scene where Blank, against his will for the only time, is taken by 20 Catholic schoolgirl virgins who come to his “rescue” after he falls off his bike. For the latter, Waters has Winona Ryder, working with him for the first time since Heathers, as an excellent temptress, and Leslie Bibb as a possible love interest for Blank. But the few moments of wit can’t do much to correct the essential problem: Waters thinks he’s made something far cleverer than it is, and when one sees scenes that beg for laughs, it veers toward being pitiable. This is the kind of material that needed either some major rewrites or an overhaul of the cast. Jack Gattanella
April 4, 2008