Young People Fucking

Starring Callum Blue, Ennis Esmer, Carly Pope, and Sonja Bennett. Rated 18A. Opens Friday, June 13, at the Ridge Theatre

Young People Fucking isn’t entirely about young people fucking. It mostly consists of young people talking about fucking. Which, technically speaking, is not the same thing—although the two can get pretty close at times.

The fuckers and fuckees here, in this funny, occasionally insightful, and only partially naked film, are found in five unrelated story lines, or single-location vignettes, to describe it more accurately. There’s a married couple (Kristin Booth and Josh Dean) in a no-sex rut. A Cockney-accented player (Dead Like Me’s Callum Blue) gets more than he bargains for with a flirtatious coworker (Diora Baird). A pair of exes (Josh Cooke and Sonja Bennett) revive the old bed lust, while long-time friends (Aaron Abrams and Carly Pope) decide to give it a first-time go. In the most amusing situation, a randy twosome (tall Natalie Lisinska and stout Ennis Esmer) invite a nerdy roommate (Peter Oldring) in on their action.

The strength of this low-budget, Vancouver-made movie, directed by Martin Gero and cowritten by him and Abrams, is also its weakness: the young people never shut the hell up. It’s great fun when they say amusing things, which is pretty often, but a little tedious when you notice that almost everyone is speaking in the same voice.

There are certain patterns to go with that. Most of the women are dominant trash talkers, and the men are all insecure worriers. As a setup for comedy, this works well, especially when you have someone as resourceful as Esmer—a veteran standup comic—gumming up the threesome by demanding constant reassurance. (“Is she hot?” he keeps asking. “Tell me she’s hot!”) As an exploration of sexuality and its complex attractions, though, the movie is kind of one-dimensional. But what the hell—it isn’t called Young People Seeking Spiritual Union.

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