A Funny Kind Of Love

The dark black comedy about the lives of five couples looks at the perverse sexual habits. Some range from the ridiculous (dacryphilia or pleasure at people crying) to the slightly odd (somnophilia or sleeping princess) to the sadistic (masochism). This brings out the family lives in new and complex ways, these send ripples of discontent but also allow for personal growth and relationships to become stronger. Couples have quirks and fantasys from rape dreams to Telephone scatalogia (Phone sex to you and me). All can find something for fun and games and a little laugh.

I am not sure quite how to pitch this review. The film is funny in the new comic sense, which means that we laugh at the awful reality of life and take this as the way things truly are. This comedy is sharp and sometimes excellent in its expressing, for an example the crass use of a golliwog doll as biscuit gift by a pedophile is funny and well observed. Tone of these scenes in the script helps for it plays the note to which the performance and direction need be. Humor can and is sometimes a little hard to swallow, like seminal fluid could be if say I had to swallow it (this is my attempt at the crass joke outside of tone). Then we have some superbly and imaginative directed pieces as the scatalogia or plain old phone sex scenes are. I want Lawson to take credit for this, as I also feel he may have watched both Magnolia and Short cuts but has taken these films and made something new.... Now you also need actors with flair and a level of measure. The whole cast has this in vast reserve and they balance a good script with performances that do not punch over the weight.

Then we have my problems with the film. The rape jokes are a little hard to swallow and these are sometimes below the belt. The film has a problem with visual expression and it is only that the light level and tone is so the same. This level is grating on the eye as it literally feels the same through out.It is lifted occasionally by great camera work....once again the above scene that is well directed. I hear you scream out that I only have two complaints, well I am not complaining as much as stating that the film is very good and quite funny. It is like a funny version of Short Bus, that film from 2006 that was a little bland and used hardcore sex to push some weak jokes. This doesnt use sex in such a way.... Spank fully....