WINONA Ryder’s career takes a turn for the icky in the cringe-making “comedy” “Sex and Death 101.”
Simon Baker stars as a stud who is preparing for his wedding day when he’s anonymously sent a list of all the women he’s ever had sex with – or ever will. Discovering that his betrothed is only No. 29 on the long list, he dumps her, figuring it would be a lot more fun to start working his way through the rest of the list now.
Meanwhile, Ryder plays “Death Nell,” a rampaging feminist serial killer taking vengeance on the male of the species.
Looking for comic inspiration amid necrophilia and gang rape by 19 schoolgirls, the film is a dismally clumsy attempt at a two-hour dirty joke that first makes you sorry for its makers, then embarrassed, then stupefied.
The story, which involves an oracle who comes out of nowhere to deliver chats about the supernatural, suggests Larry Flynt trying to work in the style of Frank Capra. The characters are uniformly loathsome, and the gags (and the ending) are predictable long before they happen.
Written and directed by Daniel Waters, who wrote “Heathers,” this film is headed quickly for DVD. In the video store, though, it isn’t funny enough to be shelved in the comedy section nor dirty enough to be filed with the smut. It might be useful in propping up a wobbly chair, though.
Running time: 113 minutes. Rated R (sex, nudity, profanity). At the Cinema Village.