Worth mentioning that I've never seen any other Haley Joel Osment project so I don't have his child actor antics for context here. With that out of the way...
A good deal of reviews commend this film for being sex positive. While it definitely likes sex, I don't think it's breaking any boundaries for sex positivity. All it does is point out what everybody already knows: sex is funny.
There's some bits of this film I like. I like JT and Ally's dynamic as a kinky couple that seem to love each other, and they interested me a bit more than Eddie did. JT is an idiot but I like that he tried to give the kids and Eddie healthy advice about sex. I also liked the improv during the end credits.
But the comedy in this film is really underwhelming to me. I don't think there's a single joke that's not about sex, except a few jokes about death and drugs and other junk. The novelty wears off quickly. There's also a scene with a transgender hooker that I cannot believe was made in 2014 because it was so cringeworthy and offensive. The female characters generally don't fare much better either since they only exist to help Eddie on his virginity quest. For a film about the importance of sex education, it's ironic that LGBT sex lives are only referenced for the sake of jokes and women's sex drives aren't considered much at all.
The sex education itself is basic. I don't feel strongly about that aspect because I don't know how much better off the kids will be with this entry-level "here is anatomy, here's how ST Ds are bad" stuff. The show titled Sex Education is much better as it focuses more on the intimacy of sex. The movie talks about how sex and love are not mutually exclusive but it sure doesn't show it outside of maybe JT and Ally. Eddie's relationship with Pilar is boring as fuck, and I appreciate that he didn't get with her, but it was depicted as a big win for him? Like it sucks that she abandoned him on a date but it felt like it vilified her out of nowhere when we barely got to know her for most of the movie.
The Character Shilling at the end of this is probably the most eye-rolling. Eddie is hailed as a hero for making a very basic "if kids don't learn sex ed here they'll learn it from the internet" speech, and it only hits hard because this town is really stupid and for some reason all it took to change their entire perspective was a pretty dull speech from the guy they hated for ages. Then we get a Time Skip and the kids all hail Eddie, and he walks down the hall with Cool Shades, and it's implied he gets laid by his dream girl. Ugh. He's a fine character but he's not God.
Film Lots of sex, not a lot of ed
Worth mentioning that I've never seen any other Haley Joel Osment project so I don't have his child actor antics for context here. With that out of the way...
A good deal of reviews commend this film for being sex positive. While it definitely likes sex, I don't think it's breaking any boundaries for sex positivity. All it does is point out what everybody already knows: sex is funny.
There's some bits of this film I like. I like JT and Ally's dynamic as a kinky couple that seem to love each other, and they interested me a bit more than Eddie did. JT is an idiot but I like that he tried to give the kids and Eddie healthy advice about sex. I also liked the improv during the end credits.
But the comedy in this film is really underwhelming to me. I don't think there's a single joke that's not about sex, except a few jokes about death and drugs and other junk. The novelty wears off quickly. There's also a scene with a transgender hooker that I cannot believe was made in 2014 because it was so cringeworthy and offensive. The female characters generally don't fare much better either since they only exist to help Eddie on his virginity quest. For a film about the importance of sex education, it's ironic that LGBT sex lives are only referenced for the sake of jokes and women's sex drives aren't considered much at all.
The sex education itself is basic. I don't feel strongly about that aspect because I don't know how much better off the kids will be with this entry-level "here is anatomy, here's how ST Ds are bad" stuff. The show titled Sex Education is much better as it focuses more on the intimacy of sex. The movie talks about how sex and love are not mutually exclusive but it sure doesn't show it outside of maybe JT and Ally. Eddie's relationship with Pilar is boring as fuck, and I appreciate that he didn't get with her, but it was depicted as a big win for him? Like it sucks that she abandoned him on a date but it felt like it vilified her out of nowhere when we barely got to know her for most of the movie.
The Character Shilling at the end of this is probably the most eye-rolling. Eddie is hailed as a hero for making a very basic "if kids don't learn sex ed here they'll learn it from the internet" speech, and it only hits hard because this town is really stupid and for some reason all it took to change their entire perspective was a pretty dull speech from the guy they hated for ages. Then we get a Time Skip and the kids all hail Eddie, and he walks down the hall with Cool Shades, and it's implied he gets laid by his dream girl. Ugh. He's a fine character but he's not God.
3/10