Spice Up Your Valentine's Day..."Sleeping With Other People"

Sleeping With Other People (2015)

Rated R

Starring Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Adam Scott, Amanda Peet,

Written and Directed by Leslye Headland

The Story:

Jake (Sudeikis) meets Lainey (Brie) in college. She has come to the dorms to lose her virginity to Matthew (Scott). Except he's not home, and Jake tells her that Matt is quite the tool. The two bond and then the two virgins become none. Fast forward a dozen-ish years, and the two bump into one another. It's been one bad relationship after another for each of them, but they hit it off and become best of friends. But as we all know, men and women can't just be friends and the clock starts ticking...

I really wanted to like this one more than I did.

Think of it like When Harry Met Sally, except Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan talk about sex for 90 minutes and barrage you with language that makes a sailor stop and say "hey now, hold on a second!".

And yes, I'm a vile hypocrite because I don't mind it as much in some movies as I do in others. If you can take the language out and the jokes are still funny, you're on to something.

If you remove the language and there is no joke, then you've got a problem.

And therein lies my main problem with the film.

I've reviewed one of Ms. Headland's films before: Bachelorette . And I said many of the same things there.

She loves to talk about sex and get great actors to spew forth her dialogue.

This one is more amusing than that film, but that owes way more to Sudeikis' ability to deliver lines like this so well, he's phoning it in at this point. That said, the chemistry and likeability of both Sudeikis and Brie help elevate the overall proceedings. Replace either with another actor, and this review might have gone a whole different direction.

Kudos also to Adam Scott who comes back for more in this film as the slimey Matt who is ruining Lainey's life. He is one of Headland's favorites, and he usually also makes the most of whatever he is given.

I'm seeing improvements in Headland's body of work, but I think it's time for her to leave the bedroom behind and see if there is more to life than a good @#$%.

Or if not, at least be funnier about it.

Final Grade: C+