John Water’s new film tries so hard to offend that you cannot help be won over by its twee charms. Tracie Ullmann’s sexually repressed mother gets a bang around the head and becomes the twelth apostle of Ray-Ray, a kind of Jesus for sex addicts. Ray-Ray and his brethen are pit against the neighbourhood’s sexually repressed, happy to be self styled neuters. Along the way we get plenty of sploshing, exhibitionism, cunniliungus and micophilia to keep us happily pretending to be outraged. The films also shows the second time David Hasslehoff has been used in a slightly uncomfortable cameo role this year, marking him the king of the useless iconic celeb. Though I guess there is not supposed to be much crossover between John Water’s and Spongebob Squarepants audience. It is the funniest film I have seen this year, partially for its attempts at gross-out which come off as just a bit twee.
There is one problem in the film: which is happily embracing all sorts of sexual perversions and deviances (films terminology). One of the characters, the cop, who enjoys being a man-baby, uses the town invasion sequence to break into a house and replace a real baby. This briefly puts us in the uncomfortable position of seeing a grown man in a nappy gleefully picking up and removing a baby. For the first time the films drifts into waters Water’s probably would not like to get into, the freedom of sexual expression can also include acts which are socially a touch dodgy. Ray-Ray tries to counter this later with a good speech on not hurting anyone and consentuality of sex, but the damage is done. The neuters could easily use that one sequence to damn the entire film and its premise.
Still, “Let’s Go Sexing!” is the best movie catchphrase I have heard in years.