Sex and Death 101

Infobox Film
name = Sex and Death 101


image_size =
caption = Theatrical release
director = Daniel Waters
producer = Cary Brokaw
writer = Daniel Waters
narrator =
starring = Simon Baker
Winona Ryder
Leslie Bibb
Tanc Sade
Patton Oswalt
music = Rolfe Kent
cinematography = Daryn Okada
editing = Trudy Ship
distributor = Anchor Bay Entertainment
released = September 27, 2007 (Russia)
February 22, 2008 (US)
runtime = 100 min
country = United States
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0497972

"Sex and Death 101" is a 2007 dark comedy written and directed by Daniel Waters released in the United States on April 4th, 2008. This film marks the reunion of writer-director Daniel Waters and Winona Ryder, who previously worked on 1989's "Heathers", written by Waters.

Plot

Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) is the 'annoyingly perfect and together' young man: in his 30s, he's got a great job (executive for 'Swallows', a fast-food restaurant chain designed to not look like a fast-food chain), a beautiful fiance in Fiona Wormwood with whom he can't wait to have a family, and his loyal if somewhat demented best friends Zack (Neil Flynn) and Lester (Dash Mihok). On the day of his bachelor party, Roderick's assistant Trixie is relaying to him via cell-phone conversation his emails; when she opens the last one (sender unknown) it turns out to be a list of all the women Roderick has ever had a sexual relationship with and Roderick naturally assumes that since he's getting married, Fiona is the last woman on the list. Unfortunately for him, Fiona is only #29, the list keeps on going to 101.

Thinking it's a bachelor party joke from Lester, Roderick tries to blow it off, but just can't get it out of his mind: Who would know such intimate details about his life, and who could predict his future conquests, assuming the list was accurate? He looks at the 30th name - Carlotta Valdez - and wonders how and when this will occur. That night at his bachelor party, after the stripper 'Precious' mistakenly thinks he will have sex with her, even going so far as to unzip him and put on a condom he politely refuses her advances. However, a slip of the tongue (Precious thanks him by saying 'gracias') followed by a slip on the condom wrapper ends up put two and two together - the stripper, real name Carlotta Valdez - literally lands on him, and they have sex. After learning of his subsequent infidelities, Fiona calls off the wedding.

Suddenly aware of his extremely good luck, Roderick proceeds to cross one name after another off of the list, including a tryst with a centrefold's leprosy-ridden grandmother, a Swallows drive-thru girl, a flight attendant, a reality-tv 'power lesbian' couple, and a self-help guru. The speed at which he is crossing names off of the list causes his friends to become concerned for his mental well-being; they convince him to bury the list. However after the end of a relationship with Lester's charming and quirky veterinarian (Leslie Bibb), Roderick digs up the list and returns to his old ways.

In the background of all this action is the activities of a woman nicknamed 'Death Nell' (Winona Ryder) in the press, a 'serial killer' of men who have committed sexual crimes: she seduces these men, and puts them into a permanent coma, leaving behind a line of feminist poetry in spray paint in the room. An agency which has been tracking death Nell's activities has also been keeping track of Roderick's, as it was them who sent the email to him in the first place. The email, as it turned out, came from a large quantum-mechanical computer called the 'Oracle' and the agency's job is to help those who receive emails keep from losing their minds.

Things begin to unravel for Roderick when he discovers that the identity of #101 Gillian de Raisx is in fact the notorious Death Nell and he begins to try everything in his power to avoid having sex and thus reaching the end of the list, including reading James Joyce's 'Ulysses', building scale models and taking up road biking. The last activity ends in disaster when he crashes his bike, and a school bus of female students from an all-girls Christian college 'help him' by helping themselves (believing that Roderick was sent by God to them) and proceed to use him to lose their virginities, thus catapulting him from #82-100 in the space of a single afternoon (and also causing Lester to write a letter to a men's magazine, presumably Penthouse). When the agency tells him they are close to catching Death Nell, Roderick decides to go to the hotel where she will be staying and meet her face to face. Instead they meet in a diner and share a meal and conversation. Gillian/Nell reveals that she was a literature/biochem student who married young and was forced to perform many degrading sexual favours with her husband. After his death (caused by a broken neck after slipping on a pencil), Gillian realizes she inadvertently caused him to get his just rewards (she'd dropped the pencil accidentally after writing in her diary) and set out on her 'quest'. At the end of the meal, she tells Roderick she's exhausted from the whole ordeal and just wants to sleep. She shows him two purple pills and suggests they spend the night together, after which they would each take a pill and fall into a coma; Roderick agrees: they seduce each other, take the pill and fall into bed. On the wall behind them, in red spray paint is written 'The End'.

The next scene shows two bodies under a sheet in a bed, not moving. Suddenly a little boy of about three jumps onto the bed, awakening his parents: Roderick and Gillian. It is revealed that Gillian and Roderick have gotten married and now are the happy family that Roderick has always wanted to have.

Historical References

The name of Winona Ryder's character, Gillian De Raisx, is a feminized modification of the name of the notorious 15th century French aristocrat and serial murderer, Gilles de Rais.

Cast

*Simon Baker...Roderick Blank
*Winona Ryder...Gillian De Raisx
*Leslie Bibb...Miranda
*Tanc Sade...Beta
*Patton Oswalt...Fred
*Mindy Cohn...Trixie
*Dash Mihok...Lester
*Neil Flynn...Zack
*Thom Bishops...Malcolm
*Corinne Reilly...Lizzie
*Sophie Monk...Cyntha Rose
*Marshall Bell...Victor Rose III
*Rob Benedict...Bow-Tie Bob
*Julie Bowen...Fiona
*Frances Fisher...Hope Hartlight
*Natassia Malthe...Bambi
*Pollyanna McIntosh...Thumper
*Indira Varma...Devon Server
*Cindy Pickett...Roderick's mother
*Jessica Kiper...Carlotta Valdes
*Keram Malicki-Sanchez...Master Bitchslap

Critical reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. As of April 4, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 23% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 30 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sex_and_death_101/ |title=Sex and Death 101 Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=2008-04-04 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 26 out of 100, based on 10 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/sexanddeath101 |title=Sex and Death 101 (2008): Reviews |accessdate=2008-04-04 |publisher=Metacritic]

Awards

The film won the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director at the Seattle Film Festival.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0497972|title=Sex and Death 101
*rotten-tomatoes|id=sex_and_death_101|title=Sex and Death 101
*metacritic film|id=sexanddeath101|title=Sex and Death 101
*mojo title|id=sexanddeath101|title=Sex and Death 101
*amg movie|id=1:376584|title=Sex and Death 101