Chasing Amy (1997)
(On TV, December 1999) An in-your-face comedy about sex, but it’s far, far better than the inanities of Porky, American Pie and other raunchy teen-oriented films. A frank look at the problems of sex (as opposed as to its attractiveness), Chasing Amy mines lesbianism, attraction, jealousy, male and female priorities, love, friendship and naturally presents the whole structure as being insanely unstable. It feels real, but it’s also hilarious… in a cathartic sense. The real strength of the film is the script and the acting, since writer/director Kevin Smith is almost mortally afraid of moving the camera or trying out any fancy cinematographic technique. A shame, because this flat directing actually distracts from the movie itself. (The strongly-directed scenes, like the rainy reunion and the record-shop discussion, stand out almost because of the better-than-static direction) Still, Chasing Amy is more than worth a look. For mature audiences only!