Review - 'It's Just Sex' Is Just Awful

A philandering husband snaps a photo between the legs of the spread-eagled call girl posed on his couch, calling it "a Kodak moment." He then puts his mouth to a certain body part of hers and notes that it tastes like crème brûlée. The other 89 and a half minutes of Jeff Gould's sadly unfunny It's Just Sex do little to improve matters.

The premise is all very familiar, which isn't necessarily a flaw. Three attractive married couples meet for cocktails and when alcohol gets the best of them, secret relationship issues surface and someone, out of spite, suggests they all switch partners for some private quickies.

The party is hosted by Joan (Jackie Debatin) and her French dessert loving husband, Phil (Matt Walton), who she caught sampling off of Amanda (Molly Fahey) just shortly before their guests arrive. (His explanation, "She's just a hooker!" is countered with the ineffectual zinger, "Not everyone can be president.")

Carl (Salvator Xuereb) can't keep his hands off his massage therapist wife Kelly (Gina LaPiana), but although she appreciates how much he trusts her she also wishes he'd show some jealousy when she exudes her flirtatious personality. Greg (Michael Colby Jones) has trouble achieving erections for his strong, authoritative wife, Lisa (Elaine Hendrix).

As is usually the case for such comedies, dangerous waters are treaded, temptations are given in to, the wrong things are said and, for better or worse, the three couples end the evening understanding more about their relationships. And while the attractive cast certainly seems capable of providing a sexy, if formulaic, evening, the juvenile dialogue and crass jokes sap the production of any legitimate chance for titillation or empathy.

The banter doesn't have to be of Noel Coward quality, but when a participant in a game of twenty questions asks, "Is it pussy?" it doesn't exactly instill the playgoer with any hope of encountering some genuine wit. There's a dumb discussion suggesting that women need to talk as much as men need to have sex, flirtations on the horny adolescent level of sophistication and a bit where a wife attempts to prove she's not a prude by giving her husband oral sex right there in front of everybody. The playwright even makes a second attempt to get a laugh out of crème brûlée.

Rick Shaw's static direction is filled with awkward pauses that continually grind the pacing down and too many instances where the characters freely grope at each other.

If the sexiest part of the body is the brain, It's Just Sex is an effective argument for celibacy.

Top Photo: Elaine Hendrix, Salvator Xuereb, Michael Colby Jones, Jackie Debatin, Gina LaPiana and Matt Walton; Bottom Photo: Elaine Hendrix, Jackie Debatin and Salvator Xuereb.

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