Virtual Sexuality (1999)

So much average

One of my all time favorites.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Justine is a 17 year old virgin and she wants to do something about it but can't find the best man to do it. She visits a science fair with her geeky friend Chas and has a go in a virtual reality machine that allows you to carry out changes to your own body. She makes herself into the perfect man when suddenly a freak explosion cause a power jolt and creates her electronic version – Jake. Jake befriends Chas while trying to work out a way back to his/her old body but Justine remembers nothing but is set up with Jake by her (their!) friend Fran.Who says the Americans can only do average teen comedies – here the UK has a stab too. The film has a certain energy and enthusiasm that is hard to dislike at first but wears thin before even the halfway point is reached. Part of the reason is the fact that the plot is complete nonsense. I coped with the fact that Justine had become Jake – but it was all confused when Justine herself still exists in her old body. It just seemed so strained that I lost interest a bit. But the comedy should have held me.The laughs are basic and mainly come from youf things – it's not very clever. The energy of the film comes through in the actors but also little touches like onscreen text and what not, it feels like it's full of youth and drive, even if the end result feels a little tired. Fraser is cool as Justine and carries the lead well. The first quarter is all her and it is the best part. Her change to Jake sees the focus on Penry-Jones who isn't very good, he tries but he is all wrong, when Fraser returns it isn't the same. de Lacey is OK and I must admit that I now have a small thing for Duprey who I found to be really good-looking!I read a review that said hating this was like trying to kick a puppy – it's so full of cute enthusiasm and for the most part that's true. The energy carries it and makes it worth a watch if only once. However the laughs are fair to middling and the whole damn plot is just daft and confusing when you try and think about it for longer than a second.

While the premise of this film has been done, it starts out with enough freshness and humor to keep you watching. Justine's early escapades inside the body of her own "perfect man" are quite humorous and Rupert Penry-Jones as Jake does a great job portraying a man, with the "personality" of a teenage girl, Justine. But past the halfway mark this film loses complete direction. We grow to really like the endearing Jake, but we discover that Justine is also a separate entity to him, (i.e. the machine made a double of Justine as a man, so there are two of them, one male, one female). And then the film follows Justine in her efforts to snag Jake, (as she doesn't know he is really her). The movie tries to make her the central character again, and fails because we really don't care anymore -- she's hardly as interesting. It also takes a detour at the moment when some intriguing and more controversial issues are about to be raised. Jake is being seduced by a girl at school that everyone calls, "hoover",(take a guess why), and after she spends sometime kissing him on the street, we never see her again. It raises an interesting question of sexual preference, i.e. justine inside a man's body being attracted to a woman, but the movie skirts the issue, wanting instead to regress into a high school soap opera. At the close of the film Jake is deleted in a quick wrap-up effort to make this a movie about loving yourself and waiting to lose your virginity to a "nice guy," who may not have the looks, but has the personality. Its hokey sub-plot about the scientists trying to recapture Jake to perform scientific experiments on him only hinders the movie even more, making certain scenes into a slapstick comedy. Its unfortunate that something could start out interesting enough and plummet so quickly. But the first half-an-hour is worth watching, if for nothing else than Rupert Penry-Jones (Jake)as he "explores" his new masculine body.

I stumbled upon this movie accidentally. In any other situation I would have most likely turned the TV off and paid this movie no mind. But once I started to watch it I couldn't turn it off. I tried but my hand would slowly wander back to the remote. The acting wasn't the best that I've seen. The plot was horrible and predictable. Yet I was compelled to watch on. I've seen movies that have claimed to be intellectually stimulating and left feeling as though I had been robbed of something. But with this movie you walk in expecting nothing and therefore you feel as though you've lost nothing when you're done. I would suggest seeing this movie if you're looking for something fluffy, candy-coated, and just plain entertaining.

This movie plays out like an English version of an ABC after school special, with nudity. It makes you wonder who the target audience was supposed to be. It's not as though the writers were too preoccupied with selling a plausible plot either. While it does possess a certain watchability, Virtual Sexuality is fluffier than dandelion meringue. It's a good movie to watch if you're snowed in, the cable's out, and it's the only tape you've got.